briMm  Lincol 

Man  of  God 


John  Wesley  Hill 


! 


(By  permission  of  the  Century  Co.) 


Abraham  Lincoln 

Man  of  God 


By 
John  Wesley  Hill,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

\v 
Chancellor  of  Lincoln  Memorial  University 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

Cbe  Icnicfcerbocfcer  press 

1920 


.  a 
H53 


COPYRIGHT,  1920 

BY 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


Co 

FRANK  A.  SEIBERLING 

MY  HONOURED  FRIEND 

This  book  is  dedicated,  not  merely  as  an  expression 
of  personal  esteem  but  also,  and  chiefly,  because,  in  a  life 
of  humble  beginnings,  he  has  achieved  a  notable  success 
through  the  observance  of  Lincoln-like  standards  of  honour; 
because  in  the  management  of  a  gigantic  business  he  has 
realized  an  Industrial  Republic  based  on  Lincoln-like 
conceptions  of  justice;  and  because,  as  patron  of  Lincoln 
Memorial  University  and  as  chairman  of  its  Board  of 
Directors,  he  has  nobly  wrought  to  bring  to  the  youth 
of  Lincoln's  mountain  country  opportunities  of  an 
education  whose  purpose  and  method  are  responsive  to 
the  Lincoln  inspiration. 


982253 


A  TRIBUTE 

' '  I  DOUBT  whether  any  statesman  who  ever  lived 
sank  so  deeply  into  the  hearts  of  the  people  of 
many  lands  as  Abraham  Lincoln  did.  I  am  not 
sure  that  you  in  America  realize  the  extent  to 
which  he  is  also  our  possession  and  our  pride.  His 
courage,  fortitude,  patience,  humanity,  clemency, 
his  trust  in  the  people,  his  belief  in  democracy, 
and,  may  I  add,  some  of  the  phrases  in  which  he 
gave  expression  to  those  attributes,  will  stand  out 
forever  as  beacons  to  guide  troubled  nations  and 
their  perplexed  leaders.  Resolute  in  war,  he  was 

r**  _ , 

moderate  in  victory.  /Misrepresented,  misunder 
stood,  underestimated,  he  was  patient  to  the  last. 
But  the  people  believed  in  him  all  the  time,  and 
they  still  believe  in  him.j 

"In  his  life  he  was  a  great  American.  He  is  an 
American  no  longer.  He  is  one  of  those  giant 
figures,  of  whom  there  are  very  few  in  history, 
who  lose  their  nationality  in  death.  They  are  no 
longer  Greek  or  Hebrew  or  English  or  American— 
they  belong  to  mankind.  I  wonder  whether  I  will 


vi  A  TRIBUTE 

be  forgiven  for  saying  that  George  Washington 
was  a  great  American,  but  Abraham  Lincoln 
belongs  to  the  common  people  of  every  land." 

At  the  unveiling  of  the  Lincoln  LLOYD   GEORGE. 

statue    near    Westminster 
Abbey  in  August,  1920. 


FOREWORD 

DR.  HILL'S  Abraham  Lincoln,  Man  of  God, 
brings  Lincoln  before  us  as  a  man,  splendid  in  his 
strength  of  purpose,  unshaken  by  popular  clamour, 
humane,  sympathetic,  and  far-seeing;  a  man  who 
understood  and  appreciated  the  problems  of  life, 
the  passions  and  the  weaknesses  of  his  fellow-men, 
strong  because  of  his  trials  and  triumphs;  a  great 
leader — so  great  as  to  be  without  jealousy;  hum 
ble,  because  of  his  knowledge  and  experience, 
forgetful  of  self  in  his  desire  to  best  serve  his 
country  and  mankind. 

He  stands  before  us  a  heroic  and  earnest  figure, 
as  one  humbly  seeking  the  inspiration,  counsel, 
and  help  of  the  Almighty,  praying  for  guidance 
from  above  and  giving  sympathy,  assistance,  and 
leadership  to  all  about  him,  with  unshaken  faith 
in  the  ultimate  success  of  the  Right ;  as  a  finite 
mind  seeking  the  guidance  of  the  infinite. 

We  see  in  Lincoln's  deep  religious  nature  the 
effect  of  his  early  training,  and  in  those  direct 
appeals  to  and  communions  with  God  we  see  not 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

only  an  abiding  faith  and  trust  in  God  but  also 
something  of  the  spirit  of  the  revival,  the  intense 
religious  emotionalism  of  those  great  meetings  of 
his  boyhood  out  of  which  came  much  of  definite 
conviction,  of  faith  and  of  trust  in  God. 

As  one  reads  one  feels  that  Lincoln  was  indeed 
"A  Man  of  God." 

H^^u^ 
WH 


INTRODUCTION 

No  new  biography  of  Lincoln  is  needed  to  por 
tray  his  public  life.  The  standard  histories  give 
in  all  detail  the  great  events  of  his  career.  But 
interpretations  of  his  inner  life  are  still  in  order. 
Few  great  men  of  the  past  have  suffered  as  much 
as  Lincoln  at  the  hands  of  the  well-meaning  and 
uncritical,  the  ill-informed  and  prejudiced. 

Charlemagne  and  Cromwell,  Washington  and 
John  Marshall,  all  were  children  of  their  time. 
Only  in  the  light  of  circumstances  which  produced 
them  can  they  be  explained.  The  interplay  of 
heredity  and  environment  on  powerful  personali 
ties  and  the  compelling  reaction  of  personalities 
on  their  surroundings  furnish  a  task  beyond  the 
reach  of  those  who  lack  human  understanding 
and  spiritual  imagination. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  amid  a  somewhat 
primitive  and  tumultuous  religious  upheaval  ex 
pressed  in  the  powerful  preaching  of  Peter  Cart- 
wright  and  illustrated  in  the  perennial  popularity 
of  the  camp-meeting.  Brought  up  by  parents 

ix 


x  INTRODUCTION 

whose  lives  were  lived  amid  such  influences, 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  from  his  earliest  years 
religious.  The  Bible  was  the  book  of  books  to 
him.  He  prayed  so  constantly  and  confidently 
as  to  seem  a  kind  of  modern  Brother  Lawrence 
practising  the  Presence  of  God.  He  worked  out  a 
theology  in  general  conformity  with  the  accepted 
standards  of  Christianity.  In  the  darkest  hour 
of  his  White  House  days  when  personal  bereave 
ment  was  added  to  national  anxiety,  he  literally 
lived  on  his  knees. 

Yet  even  in  his  lifetime  he  was  often  charged 
with  infidelity.  Some  too  near  the  trees  to  see 
the  woods  even  wrote  books  attributing  Lincoln's 
frequent  depression  to  irreligion.  He  believed 
he  was  defeated  for  office  in  1841  because  of  the 
report  that  he  was  not  a  Christian.  Many  still 
are  blinded  by  the  same  delusion. 

A  book  has  long  been  needed  to  bring  discussion 
to  an  end,  to  set  at  rest  much  foolish  speculation, 
and  to  convince  the  most  incredulous  that  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  Man  of  God,  was  as  sincere  in  his 
religious  faith  as  Robert  E.  Lee  or  Willliam  E. 
Gladstone. 

This  book  from  the  pen  of  Chancellor  John 
Wesley  Hill  of  Lincoln  Memorial  University 
seems  likely  to  perform  this  purpose.  For  many 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

years,  both  in  his  personal  and  official  capacity, 
he  has  been  collecting  evidence  at  last  massed  in 
this  book  as  challenging  as  it  is  interesting.  Even 
the  most  casual  reader  will  perceive  that  all  of 
Lincoln's  convictions  sprang  out  of  his  profound 
belief  in  God  as  set  forth  in  the  Christian  teach 
ings,  that  his  habit  of  studying  both  sides  of  every 
question  and  of  stating  each  as  strongly  as  he 
could  was  in  part  responsible  for  the  misappre 
hensions  of  some  who  have  held  a  superficial  view 
of  his  religious  life,  and  that  his  intimate  friend 
Noah  Brooks  writing  as  early  as  1872  a  personal 
letter  stated  the  truth  this  compelling  book  illus 
trates  that  "any  suggestion  as  to  Mr.  Lincoln's 
skepticism  is  a  monstrous  fiction,  a  shocking 
perversion." 

These  times  as  truly  try  men's  souls  as  Lincoln's 
times.  Problems  of  today  are  as  grave  and  com 
plex  as  the  problems  to  which  Lincoln  brought  as 
clear  a  mind  and  pure  a  soul  as  modern  times  have 
known.  A  free  people  whose  freedom  has  been  pur 
chased  at  a  great  price  must  now  choose  between 
the  merely  economic  and  the  spiritually  moral, 
between  irresponsible  Marxianism  so  subtle  that 
even  the  timid  who  dare  not  champion  it  out 
right  are  still  under  its  dominion,  and  Lincolnism 
calling  as  loudly  today  as  in  the  Gettysburg 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

address:  "This  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a 
new  birth  of  freedom." 

We  are  at  the  parting  of  the  ways.  Is  our 
thought  to  function  in  the  lowlands  of  materialism 
in  the  days  before  us,  or  in  the  religious  highlands 
where  Lincoln  lived  and  died  that  we  might  live? 
That  is  the  supreme  question  we  have  now  to 
answer. 

In  giving  Abraham  Lincoln  his  undisputed  place 
among  the  men  of  God  who  have  taught  us  how 
to  find  the  proper  answer  to  this  question,  the 
author  of  this  volume  has  rendered  a  service  as 
opportunely  patriotic  as  it  is  lastingly  religious. 


PREFACE 

heralds  have  the  right  of  way.  Their 
thoughts  and  deeds  are  the  richest  legacy  of 
humanity.  They  are  lights  kindled  upon  the 
dome  of  the  centuries  illuminating  the  mental  and 
the  moral  atmosphere.  History  is  the  story  of 
their  epochal  deeds.  Civilization  is  the  length 
ened  shadow  of  their  exalted  souls.  Serving  most 
they  are  the  greatest. 

Victor  Hugo  has  said:  "The  summit  of  the  hu 
man  mind  is  the  ideal  toward  which  God  descends 
and  man  ascends. ' '  From  below  the  world  watches 
them.  "How  small  they  are,"  says  the  crowd. 
Through  storm  and  cloud,  by  scarped  cliff  and 
yawning  abyss,  they  ascend  until  they  reach  the 
summit  where  they  catch  great  secrets  from  the 
lips  of  God. 

The  centuries  are  the  solemn  priests  which 
anoint  and  enthrone  the  prophets  of  God.  A 
saint  is  a  good  man  dead  one  hundred  years,  can 
nonaded  then  but  canonized  now.  "A  prophet 
is  not  without  honour  save  in  his  own  country." 

xiii 


xiv  PREFACE 

This  is  true  of  all  the  prophets.     Stones  have  been 
their  bread  and  bed. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  no  exception.  He  was 
cartooned  as  a  gorilla,  denounced  as  a  buffoon, 
hounded  by  political  malcontents,  assailed  by 
seditionists  and  traitors,  and  finally  sacrificed  as  a 
vicarious  offering  upon  the  altar  of  freedom. 

What  was  the  secret  of  his  incomparable  leader 
ship,  his  exalted  personality?  Whence  the  inspira 
tion  by  which  he  mastered  the  political  and  social 
problems  of  the  antebellum  days?  Whence  the 
light  through  which  he  saw  the  destiny  of  the 
American  republic  ?  Whence  the  patience,  the  wis 
dom  by  which  he  was  able  to  guide  the  ship  of 
state  through  the  raging  storm  of  a  rebellion  into 
the  haven  of  a  restored  and  permanent  Union? 
Who  doubts  that  his  inspiration  was  from  above, 
that  his  marvellous  power  came  not  so  much  from 
training,  environment,  and  opportunity,  as  from 
the  spiritual  endowment  which  dominated  his  will, 
quickened  his  sympathies,  fired  his  faith,  fused  his 
fortitude,  and  steadied  and  directed  his  unswerv 
ing  ambition  to  keep  step  with  the  march  of  the 
divine  purpose  as  revealed  in  the  great  epoch  in 
which  Lincoln  towered  above  the  men  of  his  time  as 
the  Colossus  of  the  desert  towers  above  all  the  neigh 
bouring  gods  standing  upright  upon  their  pedestals. 


PREFACE  xv 

The  cause  of  human  liberty  came  to  its  supreme 
test  when  the  South  seceded  from  the  Union.  The 
destiny  of  the  United  States  held  in  solution  the 
hopes  of  upstruggling  humanity.  To  this  country 
the  world  was  looking  for  answers  to  questions 
involving  the  capacity  of  mankind  for  self-govern 
ment,  the  possible  elimination  of  the  institution 
of  human  slavery  from  the  social  order,  the  effect 
of  freedom  on  the  development  of  ideal  social  and 
industrial  conditions,  and  the  triumph  of  human 
rights  over  property  rights. 

To  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  solution  of  this  com 
posite  problem  of  the  ages,  depended  not  solely 
upon  the  force  of  arms  and  magnetism  of  brilliant 
leadership,  but  upon  the  help  of  the  Almighty. 
His  trust  was  not  in  horses  and  chariots,  but  in  the 
King  Eternal,  and  according  to  his  own  statements, 
it  was  under  divine  guidance  that  he  directed  one 
of  the  greatest  military  struggles  the  world  had 
ever  known  to  the  achievement,  against  tremen 
dous  obstacles,  of  the  conclusive  victory  that 
preserved  the  Republic  and  brought  an  end  to 
slavery. 

Through  all  these  dark  and  ominous  times, 
Mr.  Lincoln's  heart,  though  often  bowed  with  a 
grief  such  as  only  he  could  know,  looked  to  God, 
depended  upon  His  guidance,  found  solace  in 


xvi  PREFACE 

prayer,  and  strength  and  comfort  in  the  Scriptures. 
Let  those  who  will,  oppose  the  affirmation  of  Lin 
coln's  Christian  character  and  assert  that  he  was 
an  atheist  or  sceptic,  that  he  had  only  a  vague 
conception  of  God  and  professed  no  belief  in  re 
ligion.  Let  those  who  will,  believe  that  Lincoln 
owes  his  leadership  to  his  master  intellect  alone 
or  that  he  rode  to  his  place  of  power  and  dominion 
over  the  hearts  of  men  on  the  billowing  tide  of 
favouring  circumstances.  Let  the  eccentric,  if  they 
will,  attempt  to  explain  away  his  patience,  his 
judgment,  and  vision  by  reference  to  the  "conjunc 
tion  of  the  planets  at  his  birth,"  ' '  chance,"  "luck," 
''genius,"  or  any  other  empty  phrase. 

In  the  midst  of  all  such  vain  attempts,  the  char 
acter  of  the  great  emancipator  stands  out  in  world 
history  as  the  incarnation  of  qualities  so  pure,  so 
spiritual,  that  the  secret  is  found  in  but  one  word — 
God. 

Up  to  Lincoln's  time,  history  seemed  in  large 
part  to  present  but  a  repetition  of  political  and 
military  short-sightedness,  or  of  crimes  perpetrated 
in  the  name  of  religion  and  justice.  For  this  rea 
son  the  intellectual  world  stands  confounded  be 
fore  Abraham  Lincoln's  simplicity.  How  was  it 
possible  for  a  mind  so  simple  and  direct  to  wield 
an  influence  so  potent?  No  one  like  him  had 


PREFACE  xvii 

ever  been  seen  on  the  public  rostrum.  Born  and 
bred  in  the  western  wilderness,  he  had  to  wrestle 
with  rhetorical  gladiators  in  the  greatest  political 
arena  of  the  world,  and  to  face,  single-handed, 
hostile  individuals,  groups  and  parties  backed 
by  financial  privilege  and  supported  by  social 
prestige. 

The  essential  religiousness  of  Lincoln's  life  is 
presented  to  the  Anglo-American  people  in  this 
critical  time,  when  every  thoughtful  person  knows 
that  the  problems  now  before  us  are  as  difficult  as 
those  which  the  martyred  President  had  to  solve. 
We  are  in  the  welter  of  materialism,  the  chaos  of 
indifference  to  the  best.  Plans  and  panaceas  in 
abundance  have  failed  to  allay  the  world  unrest. 
A  new  day  must  dawn  or  a  darker  night  settle  on 
the  world.  We  must  have  leaders  who  will  touch 
those  in  the  dull  sleep  of  materialism  with  the 
finger-tip  of  divine  reassurance  and  bring  them  to 
their  feet  with  the  glad  cry:  "Arise,  shine,  for  thy 
light  is  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen 
upon  thee." 

For  the  day  in  which  he  lived  Abraham  Lincoln 
did  precisely  this.  In  consequence  I  would  write 
no  biography.  This  honourable  task  has  been 
worthily  performed  by  others  from  Dr.  J.  G. 
Holland  writing  while  the  guard  around  the  great 


xviii  PREFACE 

man's  tomb  at  Springfield  was  still  new  at  its  post, 
to  Lord  Charnwood  laying  on  the  casket  of  his 
memory  the  other  day  the  noble  tribute  of  an 
appreciative  Englishman. 

Phillips  Brooks  once  said  that  in  Lincoln  was 
"vindicated  the  greatness  of  real  goodness  and  the 
goodness  of  real  greatness."  It  is  my  modest 
aspiration  to  explain  and  to  confirm  this  obvious 
truth  in  terms  as  simple  as  Lincoln  himself  was 
accustomed  to  employ.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a 
man  of  God.  Recalling  his  frequent  reference  to 
Jesus  Christ,  it  would  seem  altogether  fitting  to 
indicate  that  he  set  a  high  standard  of  Christian 
manhood;  that  he  drew  his  inspiration  and  his 
superlative  wisdom  in  state  affairs  directly  from 
the  source  of  all  wisdom ;  that  in  the  darkest  hours 
through  which  he  and  his  cause  were  called  to 
pass  he  was  sustained  by  an  unfailing  faith;  and 
that  when  he  proclaimed  to  the  world  that  he  was 
actuated  "with  malice  toward  none  and  charity 
toward  all,"  he  was  exemplifying  the  spirit  of  the 
Christian  religion  in  which  he  believed. 

A  portrayal  of  the  religious  life  of  Lincoln  should 
be  of  value  alike  to  the  professing  and  the  non- 
professing  Christian;  to  the  orthodox  and  to  the 
liberal;  to  the  thoughtful  of  no  faith  at  all  and  to 
those  vaguely  religious  who,  with  Marcus  Aurelius, 


PREFACE  xix 

believe  that  from  the  divine  principle  all  things 
come,  in  it  all  things  subsist,  and  to  it  all  things 
return.  Such  a  portrayal  may  vividly  illustrate 
that  faith  and  prayer  are  for  the  strong,  as  well  as 
weak,  and  that  to  this  mightiest  man  of  the  cen 
turies  they  were  avowedly  the  source  of  inspiration 
which  enabled  him  to  perform  his  divinely  ap 
pointed  tasks. 

There  is  a  divine  Providence  beyond  human  ken 
which  shapes  the  destinies  of  men  and  nations,  and 
Lincoln's  faith  was  builded  on  the  Rock  of  Ages. 
He  believed  Providence  was  directing  the  destiny 
of  the  American  Union  and  the  march  everywhere 
of  human  freedom.  He  accepted  the  triumph  of 
his  cause  as  the  fulfilment  of  a  divine  plan,  in 
evitable  as  the  whirl  of  the  planets  in  their  ap 
pointed  orbits.  His  eyes  were  fixed  on  higher  and 
surer  things  than  the  tumultuous  and  changing 
currents  of  human  thought  and  action,  on  the 
pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  of  fire  by  night,  guiding  the 
nation  he  was  leading  toward  the  fulfilment  of  its 
appointed  mission.  The  services  of  other  great 
civil  and  military  leaders  of  Lincoln's  time  are  not 
forgotten;  but  without  Lincoln's  profound  insight, 
his  unfailing  patience,  his  unshakable  firmness, 
and,  above  all,  his  faith  and  serene  reliance  upon  a 
Higher  Power,  their  efforts  would  have  been  in  vain. 


xx  PREFACE 

A  candid  examination  of  the  evidence  will  show 
that  the  religious  element  in  Lincoln's  life  was  its 
dominant  factor;  that  his  character  as  a  politician 
and  as  a  statesman  was  determined  by  his  charac 
ter  as  a  Christian;  and  that  he  drew  from  the 
story  of  the  "Man  of  Sorrows"  the  conclusion  that 
God  rules  the  world  in  a  personal  way. 

Abraham  Lincoln  rose  to  his  position  of  emi 
nence  from  beginnings  which,  to  the  superficial,  gave 
no  promise  beyond  mediocrity.  Born  to  poverty, 
nourished  on  the  barest  necessities,  he  obtained 
the  equipment  for  his  life  work  through  heart 
breaking  self-denials.  Julius  Caesar  boasted  that 
he  was  descended  from  Venus  and  Anchises, 
through  the  great  ^neas  and  the  royal  Lavinia. 
Lincoln  made  no  claim  to  descent  from  any  lofty 
personage.  His  ancestors  were  pioneer  stock — 
brave,  hardy,  adventurous  folk,  who  developed 
in  the  discipline  of  the  wilderness  those  sterling 
qualities  which  had  nerved  their  race  to  maintain 
their  rights  against  the  king  and  parliament  of 
England,  and,  in  the  New  World,  against  the 
depredations  of  the  painted  savage. 

Such  ancestry  was  sturdily  human  and  laid  the 
foundation  upon  which  to  build  manly  character 
and  the  Christian  virtues.  Lincoln  descended 
from  men  and  women  who,  in  their  daily  life, 


PREFACE  xxi 

prayed  to  God,  read  His  Word,  and  worshipped 
Him  in  devout  reverence.  From  such  stock 
came  the  typical  American  whom  this  book  would 
describe  without  reserve  as  a  man  of  God. 

J.  W.  H. 
NEW  YORK  CITY, 
October,  1920. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

A  TRIBUTE — LLOYD  GEORGE  v 

FOREWORD — LEONARD  WOOD           .         .  vii 

INTRODUCTION — WARREN  G.  HARDING      .         .  ix 

PREFACE xiii 

CHAPTER 

I. — THE  BACKGROUND       ....        3 

II. — GODLY  PARENTAGE      .         .         .         .11 

III. — PREPARATION 20 

IV. — THE  BLENDING  OF  THE   MENTAL  AND 

THE  MORAL 31 

V. — FORTUNATE  FAILURES  39 

VI. — OMINOUS  SHADOWS      ....       44 

VII. — COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION        .       54 

VIII. — LEADINGS  OF  PROVIDENCE    .         .         .68 

IX. — THE  YEAR  OF  YEARS  ...       76 

xxiii 


xxiv  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

X.— THE  GIANT  WAKES        ...      83 

XL — THE  SHADOW  OF  A  MIGHTY  ROCK  .      94 

XII. — THE  WHEAT  AND  THE  TARES  .  .105 

XIII. — THE  HOUSE  DIVIDED     .         .  .116 

XIV. — THE  CLAY  AND  THE  POTTER   .  .124 

XV. — AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE   .         .  .133 

XVI. — THE  MAN  OF  THE  HOUR         .  .140 

XVII. — PROPHETIC  VISIONS        .         .  .     149 

XVIII. — GUARDING  THE  CITADEL         .  .154 

XIX. — AWAKING  A  CONTINENT          .  .     162 

XX. — ON  THE  WAY  IN  PRAYER         .  .169 

XXI. — THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS  .  .175 

XXII. — THE  ENCIRCLING  GLOOM         .  .     190 

XXIIL — THE  FOUR  LONG  YEARS          .  .     201 

XXIV. — ARMS  AND  THE  MAN      .         .  .     208 

XXV. — SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  .         .  .     223 

XXVI. — A  TEACHER  UNTAUGHT  OF  MEN  .     245 

XXVII. — THE  COMPLETE  CHRISTIAN     .  .     253 

XXVIII. — THE  CHRIST-LIKE  STORY-TELLER  .     265 

XXIX. — LINCOLN  ON  HIS  KNEES          .  .     276 


CONTENTS  xxv 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXX. — LIVING  HIS  RELIGION     .         .         .  287 

XXXI. — THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS  .  303 

XXXII. — DISCIPLINED  BY  GRIEF  .         .         .  320 

XXXIII. — THE  PROCLAMATIONS  OF  A  CHRIS 
TIAN  PRESIDENT          .         .         .  330 

XXXIV. — INSPIRED  UTTERANCES  .         .         .  350 

XXXV. — LINCOLN'S     CHRISTIAN    VIEW    OF 

LABOUR 358 

XXXVI. — JERUSALEM 371 

APPENDIX  I. — THE  FORERUNNER     .         .         .  375 

APPENDIX  II. — THE  FIRST  MARTYR         .         .  397 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 405 

INDEX 409 


Abraham  Lincoln— Man  of  God 


Abraham   Lincoln — Man   of 
God 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   BACKGROUND        '       /'•    •      ::"e' 

THE  prairies  of  the  Great  West  were  as  vast 
seas  in  which  the  groves,  God's  first  temples,  were 
like  islands.  Their  rolling  waves  of  summer  ver 
dure,  their  sombre  glow  of  autumn  haze,  their 
angry  aspect  when  swept  by  raging  storms,  their 
billowing  drifts  of  winter  snows,  impressed  the 
pioneer  mind  with  a  sense  of  the  infinite. 

The  frontier  communities  were  saturated  with 
religious  sentiment.  Nearness  to  nature  keyed 
their  souls  to  spiritual  influences.  They  saw  God 
in  the  clouds,  heard  Him  in  the  winds,  read  His 
providence  in  the  upspringing  of  verdure,  and  in 
the  recurrence  of  the  seasons.  Their  hardships 
chastened  them ;  their  common  dangers  drew  them 
closer  together;  their  perils  and  helplessness  taught 

3 


4    ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

them  reliance  upon  a  Higher  Power.  They  drew 
their  religious  faith  and  fervour  from  the  Puritans 
of  New  England,  the  Cavaliers  of  Maryland,  the 
Scotch  Presbyterians  of  the  Carolinas,  and  from 
other  types  of  Christians.  Central  among  them 
was  Methodism,  which  exerted  a  wide  and  deep 
influence  in  moulding  the  rugged  religion  of  the 
pioneer. 

Fortunately,  in  the  intimate  association  of  the 
wilderness,  sectarian  and  denominational  differ 
ences  lost  their  strong  hold,  and  tolerance  was 
practised  from  necessity  as  well  as  inclination. 
The  people  merged  into  a  brotherhood  of  mutual 
helpfulness  in  spiritual  as  well  as  in  material 
things.  They  met  and  exchanged  ideas  and  ex 
periences  as  freely  as  they  exchanged  the  products 
of  the  soil  and  chase. 

As  their  mode  of  life  brought  health  and  strength, 
their  religious  life  lent  joyousness,  instead  of  Puri 
tanic  gloom.  Limited  in  the  number  of  their 
"meeting  houses,"  the  rude  school  houses  were 
often  utilized  for  worship. 

The  one  big  event  of  the  year  was  the  camp- 
meeting.  It  attracted,  from  far  and  near,  mul 
titudes  of  all  classes,  the  pious  and  impious,  the 
reverent  and  profane.  Believers  and  unbelievers 
found  in  the  camp-meeting  the  only  touch  of  cos- 


THE  BACKGROUND  5 

mopolitan  life  that  modified  the  loneliness  of  the 
frontier. 

The  people  made  their  way  to  these  camps  in 
vehicles  of  every  description,  farm  wagons,  ox 
carts,  boats;  while  some  went  on  horseback  and 
hundreds  travelled  on  foot.  They  talked  over 
neighbourhood  affairs,  discussed  the  questions  of 
the  day,  and  gathered  from  each  other  the  drift 
of  national  tendencies,  the  progress  of  settlement, 
and  the  spread  of  religious  sentiment. 

Naturally  these  exchanges,  however,  centred  in 
their  exuberant  religious  life.  One  who  passed  his 
youth  amidst  such  scenes  wrote: 

It  was  a  heterogeneous  gathering, — humourists  who 
were  unconscious  of  their  humour;  mystics  who  did 
not  understand  their  strange,  far-reaching  power; 
sentimental  dreamers  who  did  their  best  to  live  down 
their  emotions;  old  timers  and  cosmopolitans  with  a 
wonderful  admixture  of  sense  and  sentiment;  political 
prophets  who  could  foresee  events  by  a  sudden,  illu 
minating  flash  and  foretold  them  in  a  quick-spoken, 
pithy  sentence;  theologians  educated  on  the  frontier, — 
these  met  and  prayed  and  wrestled  in  sharp  verbal  en 
counters  that  were  as  educational  in  their  way  as  were 
the  discussions  in  the  academic  groves  of  Athens. r 

It  was  an  unusual  people,  living  in  a  second 
Canaan,  in  an  age  of  social  change  and  upheaval, 
in  a  period  of  political  and  economic  strife.  There 

1  The  Valley  of  the  Shadow,  Francis  Grierson. 


6    ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

was  something  Biblical  in  all  of  this,  applied  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  day.  There  was  charm 
in  their  mode  of  living,  and  romance  even  in  the 
incidents  of  their  surroundings.  The  religious 
exercises  of  the  camp-meeting  were  calculated  to 
quicken  the  spirit,  intensify  the  faith,  and  arouse 
the  inward  depth  of  individuals  and  communities. 
The  meetings  were  centres  for  religious  fervour. 
From  them  radiated  spiritual  influences  which 
shaped  and  moulded  public  sentiment.  Under  the 
pointed  and  fervid  preaching,  the  results  were  in 
stantaneous  and  at  times  astounding.  Sinners  were 
' '  convicted ' ' ;  skeptics  who ' '  came  to  scoff  remained 
to  pray  " ;  unbelievers,  convinced  of  their  errors,  fell 
upon  their  knees,  called  upon  God  for  mercy,  publicly 
confessed  Christ,  and  touched  by  missionary  zeal, 
became  enthusiastic  evangels  of  the  new-found  joy. 

Their  singing  was  not  that  of  the  trained  choir. 
It  was  the  spontaneous  outburst  of  souls  attuned 
to  nature  and  to  God.  Inspired  by  love  and 
quickened  by  a  gratitude  which  overflowed  all  the 
ordered  laws  of  song,  they  poured  forth  an  im 
petuous  Niagara  of  praise. 

Theirs  was  the  music  of  the  heart  evoked  by  the 
consciousness  of  "sins  forgiven, "  sweeping  heaven 
ward  under  the  urgency  of  an  unction  unearthly 
and  divine. 


THE  BACKGROUND  7 

Their  prayers,  often  uttered  in  rude  and  blunder 
ing  phrase,  perchance  by  stammering  tongues, 
were  yet  sustained  by  a  faith  that  pierced  the 
limits  of  time  and  space  and  found  favour  with  the 
Most  High. 

The  distinguishing  characteristic  of  preacher  and 
people  was  the  spirit  of  independence.  No  creed 
formulated  by  church  councils  could  bind  them. 
No  edicts  of  potentates  could  fetter  their  speech. 
No  law  of  established  reputation  or  of  place  and 
procedure  could  prevent  their  plain  speaking. 
The  prophets  among  them  both  foretold  and 
forthtold. 

Rude,  abrupt,  strident,  and  mandatory,  they 
appeared  like  John  the  Baptist,  crying  in  the  wil 
derness,  "Repent  ye,  for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  at  hand." 

The  preacher  of  that  period  was  aggressive.  His 
saddlebags  were  his  theological  seminary,  his  Bible 
and  hymn  book  his  library.  Like  John  Wesley,  he 
constructed  his  sermons  as  he  journeyed,  drew  his 
inspiration  from  nature  and  nature's  God,  preached 
along  the  bridle  paths,  in  the  open  fields,  on  the 
streets  of  straggling  villages,  anywhere  he  could 
find  a  congregation,  small  or  great.  The  roof  of  his 
cathedral  was  the  arching  heavens,  its  walls  the 
forests  that  fringed  the  highway. 


8    ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

He  was  more  than  a  great  preacher;  he  was  a 
political  force.  Peter  Cartwright,  for  instance, 
was  even  nominated  against  Lincoln  for  Congress. 
The  preacher  was  social  guide  and  mentor.  He  was 
prodigious  in  all  respects.  In  many  of  the  frontier 
communities  were  groups  of  rowdies  who  some 
times  varied  the  monotony  of  the  wilderness  by 
" licking  the  preacher."  The  largest  and  strongest 
of  one  of  these  groups  was  selected  to  "lick"  Peter 
Cartwright  on  his  way  to  keep  a  preaching  appoint 
ment.  The  bully  lay  in  wait  along  the  roadside. 
The  revivalist  rode  up,  Bible  in  hand,  evolving  his 
sermon  as  he  came.  As  he  neared  his  destination, 
the  bully  stepped  out  from  the  shadow  of  a  tree 
and  thus  addressed  Peter:  "I  have  come  out  here 
for  to  lick  ye."  "Wait  until  I  get  off  this  horse," 
Cartwright  responded,  without  the  flicker  of  an 
eyelash  or  the  tremor  of  a  muscle.  He  dismounted, 
laid  aside  his  clerical  coat,  and  said,  "Now  I  am 
ready."  The  man  of  the  cloth  then  whipped  the 
bully  until  the  bully  cried,  "I  have  got  enough; 
let  me  up!"  But  Cartwright  was  not  through 
with  his  antagonist.  "No,  I'll  not  let  you  up  until 
you  confess  your  sins  and  accept  Jesus  Christ  as 
your  Saviour."  And  lying  prone  on  the  ground, 
with  the  clergyman  on  top  of  him,  the  bully  was 
finally  converted.  It  was  related  that  later  he 


THE  BACKGROUND  9 

became  a  genuine  convert  and  was  loyal  both  to 
Cart wright  and  the  Christian  faith. x 

Preachers  then  were  militant.  They  differed  in 
characteristics  and  in  creeds,  but  they  preached 
the  Gospel  in  a  spirit  as  uncompromising  as  that 
of  the  prophets  of  old.  They  were  worthy  succes 
sors  of  the  early  disciples  of  the  Master,  of  whom  it 
was  said:  "These  are  the  fellows  who  are  turning 
the  world  upside  down."  They  turned  the  relig 
ious  and  political  and  social  conditions  of  their 
time  not  only  upside  down,  and  inside  out,  but  also 
right  side  up,  until  the  great  religio-political  prin 
ciples  which  are  fundamental  to  human  life  and 
liberty,  no  less  than  to  Christian  civilization,  were 
sounded  far  and  near.  It  was  mostly  the  inspira 
tion  that  swept  from  these  prairies,  breathed  by 
those  pioneer  preachers  and  people,  that  aroused 
the  slumbering  conscience  of  the  nation,  and 
finally  kindled  the  flame  of  liberty  on  the  altar  of 
democracy. 

Lincoln's  immediate  ancestry  was  of  the  genera 
tion  that  was  perhaps  most  powerfully  affected  by 
this  strong,  subtle,  permeating,  spiritual  environ 
ment.  It  was  said  that  his  mother's  family,  the 


1  Peter  Cartwright  was  in  so  many  essentials  a  forerunner  of 
Lincoln  that  a  somewhat  full  discussion  of  the  man  is  given  in 
the  Appendix. 


io  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Hankses,  were  "  Great  at  camp-meetings."  It  is 
significant  that  Hern  don,  not  appreciative  of  Lin 
coln's  religion,  thus  accounts  in  part  for  Lincoln's 
mystic  temperament.  He  says  that  a  camp-meet 
ing  had  been  in  progress  for  several  days,  during 
which  religious  fervour  ran  high.  All  were  there  in 
complete  accord,  continuing  in  supplication,  await 
ing  the  celestial  fire.  Suddenly,  there  was  a  stir  in 
the  camp .  Something  extraordinary  had  happened. 
The  multitude  who  were  kneeling  sprang  to  their 
feet  and  broke  forth  into  shouts  which  rang  out 
amid  the  primeval  shades.  Presently  a  young  man, 
who  had  been  absorbed  in  prayer,  began  leaping, 
dancing,  and  shouting,  while  to  his  left  a  young 
woman,  as  though  inspired  by  the  example  she  had 
witnessed,  sprang  forward,  her  hat  falling  to  the 
ground,  her  hair  tumbling  down  in  graceful  braids, 
her  eyes  fixed  heavenward,  her  lips  vocal  with 
strange,  unearthly  song,  her  rapture  overflowing 
until,  grasping  the  hand  of  the  young  man,  they 
both  began  singing  at  the  top  of  their  voices. 

The  family  tradition  identifies  the  couple  as 
Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  and  reports 
that  they  were  married  the  following  week  in 
a  little  cabin  on  the  "Rock  Spring  Farm"  in 
Washington  County,  Kentucky,  by  the  Reverend 
Richard  Berry,  June  12,  1806. 


CHAPTER  II 

GODLY  PARENTAGE 

To  come  to  its  best  in  every  way,  character  must 
have  a  sound  physical  basis.  The  father  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  though  not  as  tall  as  his  tall 
son,  was  five  feet  ten  inches  high,  weighed  195 
pounds,  and  was  so  compactly  built  that  it  was 
said  no  point  of  separation  could  be  found  at  any 
place  between  his  ribs.  Thomas  Lincoln  was 
equal  to  any  call  upon  his  strength.  Habitually 
inoffensive  and  peace-loving,  once  aroused  he 
never  failed  to  give  of  himself  a  good  account. 
Until  Ida  Tarbell  wrote  her  painstaking  Life  of 
Lincoln,  Thomas  Lincoln  was  commonly  believed 
to  be  shiftless.  Now  we  know  that  at  a  time 
when  few  indeed  made  even  a  tolerable  living, 
Thomas  Lincoln  at  least  provided  for  the  bare 
necessities  of  his  increasing  family;  and  he  was 
a  good  man,  adding  to  devoutness  a  jovial  and 
buoyant  temperament. 

It  was  a  Christian  home  in  which  the  Christian 
statesman  was  brought  up.  The  parents  were 

ii 


12  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

church  members,  at  first  affiliated  with  a  free-will 
Baptist  Church  in  Kentucky  and  later  with  the 
Presbyterians  in  Indiana.  The  home  life  was 
conventionally  religious.  The  family  altar  was 
set  up  at  the  beginning  and  was  never  down.  No 
meal  began  without  a  blessing  even  though  at 
times  there  was  little  on  the  table  for  which  to 
offer  thanks.  One  day  when  potatoes  made  up 
the  entire  menu,  the  youthful  Abe,  with  a  twinkle 
in  his  honest  eyes  but  no  irreverence  in  his  heart, 
remarked  to  his  good  father,  "Dad,  I  call  these 
mighty  poor  blessings." 

Good  children  are  apt  to  have  good  mothers. 
Both  in  his  mother,  Nancy  Hanks,  and  later  in  his 
step-mother,  Sally  Johnston,  Lincoln  was  unusually 
fortunate.  Both  were  godly  women,  and  both 
passed  on  to  Abe  their  godliness.  They  laid  deep 
and  wide  the  foundations  of  a  Christian  manhood 
which  sustained  him  amid  the  changing  scenes 
and  vicissitudes  of  his  epochal  career.  Nancy 
Hanks's  forebears  early  hailed  from  Plymouth, 
though  they  were  not  among  Mayflower  folk. 
Then  they  moved  to  Virginia  whence  Nancy's 
father  moved  across  into  Kentucky  where  on  her 
father's  death,  when  she  was  barely  nine  years  old, 
she  grew  up  into  a  sweet-tempered  and  fair  woman 
hood,  the  centre — as  tradition  has  it — both  of 


GODLY  PARENTAGE  13 

country  merry-making  and  of  industrious  house 
wifery.  Three  children  came  the  first  three  years 
of  her  happy  married  life,  and  she  lost  a  little  of 
her  buoyancy  and  vigour  in  her  conscientious 
efforts  to  meet  her  maternal  responsibilities. 
But  though  such  hard  circumstances  would  have 
turned  ordinary  women  into  slatterns,  they  simply 
brought  out  the  heroically  adequate  in  Nancy 
Hanks  and  made  her  worthy  to  bring  up  her  little 
children,  the  second  of  whom  died  in  early  infancy. 
When  in  his  later  years,  his  mother,  who  died 
before  he  reached  the  age  of  ten,  was  but  a  tender 
memory,  Lincoln  used  to  say:  "All  that  I  am  or 
hope  to  be  I  owe  to  my  angel  mother."  Nancy 
Hanks  Lincoln  accepted  the  responsibilities  of 
motherhood  amid  the  rude  hardships  of  a  frontier 
life,  with  a  sense  of  reverence  that  lifted  her  above 
the  dull  and  deadly  routine  of  the  commonplace 
and  impecunious.  A  shack  alone  protected  the 
little  family  from  the  chilly  blasts  of  winter,  and 
on  one  side  the  only  doorway  was  a  curtain  made 
of  skins.  The  sack  mattress  on  which  the  father 
and  the  mother  slept  was  filled  with  husks  or 
leaves,  and  even  into  it  the  little  folks  from  their 
rude  shake-down  on  the  floor,  peculiarly  accessible 
to  the  winds,  would  often  crawl  for  warmth.  The 
only  food  they  had  was  sometimes  brought  down 


14  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

in  the  forest  by  the  mother's  rifle  as  well  as  by  the 
father's,  and  was  supplemented  by  fish  caught  in 
the  nearest  stream,  corn  raised  from  the  stubborn 
soil  and  turned  into  Johnny-cake  before  the  open 
fire  by  the  busy  hands  of  the  fond  mother  whose 
eyes  at  the  same  time  were  ever  on  her  young. 

Hers  was  a  busy  life  under  handicaps,  yet  mother 
love  was  never  once  forgotten  or  disowned.  No 
matter  what  demands  were  made  upon  her  time 
and  strength  she  always  gave  first  thought  to  her 
children.  She  taught  them  to  read  their  Bible1 
and  such  other  books  as  were  available.  Abraham 
Lincoln's  earliest  recollection  of  his  mother  was 
of  sitting  at  her  knee  with  his  sister  drinking  in 
the  tales  and  legends  that  were  read  or  told  to 
them  by  her. 2 

When  Abe  was  past  nine  years,  and  the  dreamy 
haze  of  Indian  summer  was  in  the  air,  his  mother 
passed  away,  telling  him  with  dying  breath : 

"  I  am  going  away  from  you,  Abraham,  and  shall  not 
return.  I  know  that  you  will  be  a  good  boy;  that  you 
will  be  kind  to  Sarah  and  your  father.  I  want  you  to 
live  as  I  have  taught  you,  and  to  love  your  Heavenly 
Father  and  keep  His  commandments."3 

1  Phoebe  Hanaford,  Life  of  Lincoln,  p.  20. 

3  Noah  Brooks,  Works  of  Lincoln,  vol.  viii.,  p.  6. 

3  Arnold,  Life  of  Lincoln,  p.  27. 


GODLY  PARENTAGE  15 

Though  stunned  by  the  blow  which  had  fallen 
upon  him,  Thomas  Lincoln,  in  the  usual  exigencies 
of  pioneer  life,  made  with  his  own  axe  and  saw  the 
coffin  for  his  loved  one,  and  as  the  glowing  colours 
of  the  dying  year  were  lighting  up  the  west,  he  laid 
her  to  rest,  who  had  been  his  staff  of  life  as  well 
as  mother  of  his  children,  in  a  clearing  in  the  woods 
not  far  from  the  cabin  she  had  made  to  bloom  into 
a  Christian  home.  No  minister  could  then  be  had. 
Besides,  the  custom  still  persists  among  the  moun 
tain  whites  sometimes  of  having  the  formal  burial 
service  long  after  the  interment.  The  grief -bowed 
man  added,  however,  to  the  last  sad  offices  he  per 
formed  a  homely  prayer  attended  by  the  reading  of 
a  Bible  passage  as  he  knew  that  Nancy  Hanks 
would  have  desired. 

Swiftly  the  long  and  dreary  winter  swept  down 
on  the  wifeless  home  without  a  mother.  The  little 
family  did  the  best  they  could.  Abe  cheered  them 
as  he  later  cheered  a  nation  in  its  darkest  days. 
He  never  once  forgot  the  final  admonition  of  his 
mother  to  be  kind  to  Sarah  and  his  father.  Already 
religion  was  coming  to  its  proper  place  in  that 
great  soul;  for  it  was  Abe,  who  when  the  spring 
returned  and  he  agreed  with  his  father  that  the 
burial  service  was  incomplete  without  a  minister, 
wrote  the  letter  to  a  preacher,  a  long  hundred  miles 


16  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

away  down  in  Kentucky,  to  come  as  soon  as  possible 
and  preach  the  funeral  sermon. 

Through  the  wilderness  Parson  Elkin  made  the 
journey  on  horseback  and  arrived  one  Wednesday. 
Word  was  sent  to  all  the  neighbours  for  a  score  of 
miles  around.  By  Sunday  all  were  there.  For  such 
a  place  and  time  they  seemed  a  multitude.  Till 
that  day  never  in  that  region  had  so  many  come 
together  for  any  purpose  whatsoever.  As  the  hour 
drew  near  for  service,  they  grew  quiet  and  medi 
tative.  Wherever  there  was  room  they  found 
rude  seats  on  logs  and  stumps  and  even  on  the 
ground.  The  preacher  offered  prayer.  With  one 
accord  the  people  sang  a  solemn  funeral  hymn. 
As  next  he  eulogized  the  saintly  woman,  recollec 
tion  mingled  with  respect  and  love,  and  honest 
grief  was  freely  poured  out  for  her  whom  they  all 
recognized  instinctively  as  the  worthiest  in  that 
whole  region  to  be  a  Christian  wife  and  Christian 
mother  to  the  ones  who  loved  her  best. 

With  the  service  ended,  Parson  Elkin  flung  him 
self  into  the  saddle  and  headed  South  again.  The 
settlers  scattered  on  their  homeward  way.  The 
family  in  quiet  stole  back  to  the  cabin.  Then 
when  all  were  gone  Abe  turned  toward  the 
grave,  flung  himself  upon  the  cold  dead  earth, 
wept  as  he  had  wept  when  first  the  clods  fell  on 


GODLY  PARENTAGE  17 

the  coffin,  and  prayed  and  prayed  to  God  to  give 
him  strength  to  live  the  life  his  mother  would 
approve. 

It  was  a  wretched  make-shift  year  the  family 
spent  without  the  mother.  How  the  children 
needed  her!  Abe  was  turning  ten.  Sarah,  now 
past  twelve,  was  the  best  housekeeper  she  knew 
how  to  be.  The  father,  like  all  normal  men,  de 
pendent  on  a  woman's  touch,  was  both  helpless 
and  depressed.  The  crude  cabin,  perhaps,  missed 
its  mistress  most  of  all. 

Then  Sally  Johnston  came  to  prove  that  where 
there  is  mother  love  there  is  true  motherhood.  The 
new  step-mother  won  at  once  the  love  and  confi 
dence  both  of  Abe  and  Sarah.  Fortunately  she 
brought  with  her — for  measured  by  the  standard 
of  the  time  she  was  not  poor — a  goodly  store  of 
well-made  bedding,  convenient  cooking  utensils, 
a  mother  heart  and  mother  touch  that  lighted  up 
the  cabin  and  made  the  father  and  the  children 
happy  as  they  had  never  dreamed  that  they  could 
be  again.  Abounding  in  energy,  she  imparted 
energy  to  all.  The  cabin  floors  were  at  last  laid. 
Doors  and  windows  were  hung.  The  cracks  be 
tween  the  logs  were  plastered  to  keep  out  the  cold. 
The  ticks  of  husks  and  leaves  gave  way  to  feather 
beds.  The  children  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives 


i8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

were  fitted  out  with  clothes  that  made  them  con 
scious  that  they  were  somebody. 

Tall,  straight,  sprightly,  a  good  talker,  apprecia 
tive,  and  discerning,  honestly  and  with  success 
Sally  Johnston  endeavoured  to  train  up  the  girl  and 
boy  as  Nancy  Hanks  had  started  them.  Recog 
nizing  the  rare  promise  Abe  gave,  she  sent  him  off 
to  school  a  mile  and  more  away.  A  classmate  later 
wrote,  "Abe  always  was  at  school  early,  attended 
faithfully  to  his  studies,  and  stood  at  the  head  of 
his  classes."  When  hard  times  came  he  some 
times  had  to  stay  at  home  to  do  the  work,  to  help 
out  with  the  family  expenses,  and  even  to  work 
out  among  the  neighbours  as  a  "hired  hand/' 
The  conscientiousness  which  was  both  a  native 
gift  and  was  developed  by  his  two  mothers,  sup 
plemented  by  his  reliability  and  thoroughness, 
gave  him  a  high  value  in  the  labour  market,  and  to 
his  paid  duties  he  was  always  ready  to  add  his 
special  cleverness  in  computing  interest  and  even 
writing  letters  for  the  neighbours. 

Like  Nancy  Hanks,  Sally  Johnston,  who  long 
outlived  her  step-son,  bore  testimony  later  to  his 
goodness  which  grew  with  the  years : 

Abe  was  a  good  boy,  and  I  can  say  what  scarcely 
one  woman,  a  mother,  in  a  thousand  can  say!  Abe 
never  gave  me  a  cross  word  or  look,  and  never  refused 


GODLY  PARENTAGE  19 

in  fact  or  appearance  to  do  anything  I  requested  of 
him.  He  was  a  dutiful  son  to  me  always  .  .  .  the 
best  boy  I  ever  saw,  or  expect  to  see.  x 

Lincoln's  appreciation  in  return  of  his  step 
mother  was  as  keen  as  hers  of  him.  He  spent  the 
last  day  before  he  left  Springfield  to  be  inaugurated 
President  in  affectionate  companionship  with  her. 
The  first  large  fee  he  ever  earned  from  his  law 
practice  in  his  early  days  at  Springfield  he  volun 
tarily  and  joyously  devoted  with  half  as  much 
again,  which  he  borrowed  from  a  friend,  to  the 
purchase  for  $750  of  a  quarter  section  of  land 
which  he  settled  on  her  for  life,  in  fee  simple. 
Until  his  death  he  cared  for  her  in  constant  tender 
ness,  calling  all  that  he  did  "a  poor  return"  for  her 
devotion  and  fidelity  to  him. 2 

Thus  even  before  he  came  into  his  'teens,  Lincoln 
had  developed  a  mature  sense  of  responsibility 
to  God  which  never  failed  to  find  expression  in 
reverent  obedience  to  God's  laws  as  he  understood 
them;  of  responsibility  to  man  in  every  relation 
ship  of  life,  particularly  to  his  kindly  father  and 
his  two  devoted  mothers,  alike  motherly  to  him 
and  consecrated  to  his  upbringing  in  "the  fear  and 
admonition  of  the  Lord." 

1  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  a  History,  vol.  i.,  p.  35. 

2  Carpenter,  238,  and  Curtis,  30. 


CHAPTER  III 

PREPARATION 

IT  was  in  his  eleventh  year  that  the  beginning 
of  Lincoln's  marvellous  mental  as  well  as  physical 
development  became  obvious. 

His  craving  for  education  soon  marked  him  as 
peculiar  among  his  fellows.  While  not  at  work  or 
school,  he  studied  at  home  with  an  ardour  that  is 
now  a  bright  tradition  of  the  Republic.  For  his 
mathematical  exercises  the  walls  of  the  cabin  were 
his  blackboard,  a  bit  of  chalk  his  crayon.  He 
devoured  with  avidity  every  book  he  could  obtain. 
Fortunately,  the  few  books  which  found  their  way 
into  the  frontier  settlements  were  mostly  works  of 
standard  value.  In  this  plastic  period  of  his  life, 
Lincoln  appears  to  have  followed  in  his  reading 
and  study  the  bent  given  to  his  nature  by  the 
teachings  and  the  posthumous  influence  of  his 
mother,  and  also  the  constant  association  with  his 
step-mother. 

Truth  was  the  fundamental  principle  on  which 
he  based  every  discussion  as  he  grew  in  mind  and 

20 


PREPARATION  21 

morals.  He  would  not  lie,  nor  permit  his  political 
opponents  to  lie.  What  is  right?  What  is  truth? 
were  tests  he  always  applied  to  the  solution  of 
social  and  political  problems.  Finding  for  himself 
the  answers  to  these  questions,  no  power  could 
turn  him  from  advocating  the  right  and  proclaim 
ing  the  truth. 

An  incident  is  related  which  shows  his  native 
honesty,  even  in  his  boyhood  days.  His  step 
sister,  Matilda  Johnston,  followed  Abe  one  morn 
ing  as  he  went  into  the  forest  to  clear  a  piece  of 
land.  She  was  then  in  her  'teens,  and,  like  the 
other  Johnston  children,  was  fond  of  Abe.  The 
mother  had  forbidden  Matilda  to  go  away  that 
morning  from  the  cabin,  but  the  girl  escaped  her 
mother's  watchful  eye,  unknown  to  Abe.  Slyly 
creeping  through  the  dense  undergrowth,  she 
sprang  upon  the  boy  with  such  sudden  force  as  to 
bring  them  both  to  the  ground.  In  falling,  the 
girl's  ankle  came  in  contact  with  the  keen  edge  of 
the  axe.  Abe  staunched  the  blood  with  strips  of 
cloth  torn  from  his  shirt  and  from  her  dress.  Then 
turning  to  Matilda  he  asked:  "What  are  you 
going  to  tell  your  mother  about  this?"  "I'll  tell 
her  that  I  did  it  with  the  axe, "  she  sobbed;  "that 
will  be  the  truth,  won't  it?"  "Yes,  that's  the 
truth,  but  not  all  the  truth,"  Abe  responded. 


22  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

"Tell   the   whole   truth,    Tilda,    and   trust   your 
mother  for  the  rest." 

The  same  uncompromising  spirit  of  truth  and 
devotion  to  righteousness  was  shown  at  every 
stage  of  his  career,  and  never  more  clearly  than 
nearly  forty  years  later  in  his  Cooper  Institute 
speech  on  the  27th  of  February,  1860.  In  dis 
secting  with  merciless  logic  the  threats  of  the 
proslavery  advocates  to  destroy  the  Union  if  a 
Republican  President  was  elected,  he  said: 

If  slavery  is  right,  all  words,  acts,  laws,  and  con 
stitutions  against  it  are  themselves  wrong  and  should 
be  silenced  and  swept  away.  If  it  is  right,  we  cannot 
justly  object  to  its  universality.  If  it  is  wrong,  they 
cannot  justly  insist  upon  its  extension.  All  they  ask 
we  could  readily  grant,  if  we  thought  slavery  right. 
All  we  ask  they  could  readily  grant,  if  they  thought  it 
wrong.  Their  thinking  it  right,  and  our  thinking  it 
wrong,  is  the  precise  fact  upon  which  depends  the 
whole  controversy. 

These  pregnant  sentences  lifted  the  slavery 
controversy  out  of  mere  sectional  and  partisan 
contention  to  the  lofty  heights  of  pure  morality. 
The-  politicians  of  the  day  did  not  relish  this  plain 
setting-forth  of  truth.  Their  aim  was  to  confine 
political  discussions  to  property  rights,  to  eco 
nomic  questions,  to  industrial  conditions,  North  and 
South,  and  thus  make  the  controversy  a  battle 


PREPARATION  23 

of  brains  over  technical  questions,  over  constitu 
tions,  statutes,  and  vested  rights.  They  also 
wished  to  keep  the  political  arena  exclusively  for 
technical  legerdemain  to  the  end  that  the  common 
people  might  be  made  to  believe  that  the  issues 
were  beyond  their  comprehension.  Who,  and 
what,  was  this  Lincoln  that  he,  with  a  sentence, 
should  brush  aside  these  technicalities,  and  lift  the 
dominant  issue  of  the  time  into  the  exalted  sphere 
of  political  morality?  Who?  The  man  who  had 
learned  his  morality  at  his  mother's  knee,  as  she 
thumbed  the  pages  of  her  Bible  and  taught  her 
children  its  sublime  truths. 

In  this,  his  eleventh  year,  his  personality  planted 
upon  a  firm  moral  basis,  began  an  amazing  physi 
cal  development  which  continued  until  at  his 
majority  he  stood  six  feet  four  inches  in  height. 
The  labour  to  which  he  was  forced  by  the  poverty 
of  his  youth  toughened  his  muscles  and  sinews, 
and  made  him  a  physical  giant.  His  was  a  phy 
sique  to  match  his  mind.  His  power  of  concentra 
tion  of  thought  was  so  great  that  often  he  was 
literally  lost  in  profound  abstraction.  His  genius 
for  analysis  and  his  ability  to  state  a  case  with 
clarity  have  never  been  surpassed. 

When  he  was  about  to  begin  his  debates  with 
Douglas,  many  of  his  friends  were  honestly 


24  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

alarmed.  Scarcely  one  but  feared  a  failure.  Hard 
ly,  however,  had  that  titanic  contest  started  when 
opinion  at  home  gradually  changed  in  Lincoln's 
favour,  while  in  all  parts  of  the  country  men  began 
to  realize  that  a  great  man  had  been  called  forth 
by  the  hour  to  meet  the  new  emergency.  Miss 
Tarbell  has  discovered  a  letter  written  by  a  states 
man  in  the  East  to  some  friend  in  the  middle  East 
asking:  "Do  you  realize  that  no  greater  speeches 
have  been  made  on  public  questions  in  the  his 
tory  of  our  country ;  that  his  knowledge  of  the  sub 
ject  is  profound,  his  logic  unanswerable,  his  style 
inimitable?" 

Both  his  physical  and  mental  development  were 
dominated  by  an  imperative  spiritual  influence. 
His  inherent  mystical  temperament  might,  per 
haps,  have  been  abnormally  developed,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  practical  wisdom  of  his  step-mother. 
It  was  she  who  drew  him  away  from  too  constant 
introspection  and  melancholy,  directing  his  mind 
toward  the  acquirement  of  practical  knowledge. 

Hazel  Dorsey  was  his  first  teacher  during  the 
few  weeks  he  regularly  attended  school  when  in 
his  eleventh  year.  Owing  to  the  pressing  necessi 
ties  of  the  Lincoln  family,  Abe  was  not  again 
permitted  to  attend  school  until  his  fourteenth 
year,  when  Andrew  Crawford  was  his  schoolmaster. 


PREPARATION  25 

This  was  his  last  term  in  school.  Study  with  him 
was,  however,  continuous.  Having  acquired  a 
taste  for  learning,  he  pursued  it  with  an  eagerness 
and  interest  that  never  lagged. 

So  insatiable  was  his  thirst  for  education  that 
he  was  known  to  trudge  seven  miles  to  borrow  an 
English  grammar.  Then,  stretched  upon  the  cabin 
floor,  before  an  open  fireplace,  an  ungainly  figure 
clad  in  coarse  garments,  he  studied  his  borrowed 
grammar  and  his  arithmetic.  His  slate  was  a 
wooden  scoop-shovel  which,  when  covered  with 
figures,  he  would  shave  clean  with  his  father's 
drawing  knife  or  jack  plane.  Thus  the  lad  may  be 
said  to  have  scooped  knowledge  into  his  capacious 
head. 

Such  were  the  conditions  under  which  the 
character  of  Abraham  Lincoln  gradually  unfolded. 
The  eagerness  to  learn,  the  love  of  truth,  the 
reverence  for  things  sacred,  the  disposition  to 
investigate,  his  patience  under  rebuke,  his  latent 
humour,  which  preserved  his  sense  of  proportion, 
his  sensitiveness  to  suffering,  the  heroism  with 
which  his  burdensome  tasks  were  borne — all  con 
tributed  to  the  formation  of  a  composite  man. 
Withal  he  was  light-hearted,  humorous,  witty, 
but  never  frivolous.  Through  all,  his  face  was 
turned  toward  the  light  and  his  pensive  eyes  looked 


26  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

far  down  the  path  of  achievement,  and  with  calm 
ness  and  courage  seemed  to  discern  the  end. 

No  reminiscence  of  this  early  development  in 
Lincoln's  life  shows  more  clearly  the  interrelation 
of  Lincoln's  intellectual  and  moral  life  than  an 
article  which  appeared  in  The  Independent,  Sept 
ember  I,  1864,  from  the  pen  of  the  Reverend 
Dr.  John  Putnam  Gulliver,  of  Norwich,  Connecti 
cut.  No  abbreviation  of  it  will  suffice  for  such  a 
purpose  as  this  chapter  has  in  view.  It  must  be 
told  in  full.  Dr.  Gulliver  says : 

It  was  just  after  his  controversy  with  Douglas,  and 
some  months  before  the  Chicago  Convention  of  1860 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  came  to  Norwich  to  make  a  political 
speech.  .  .  .  The  next  morning  I  met  him  at  the 
Railroad  Station  where  he  was  conversing  with  our 
Mayor,  every  few  minutes  looking  up  the  track 
and  inquiring  half  impatiently  and  half  quizzically, 
"Where's  that  'wagon'  of  yours?  Why  don't  the 
wagon  come  along?"  On  being  introduced  to  him  he 
fixed  his  eyes  upon  me  and  said,  "I  have  seen  you 
before,  sir!"  "I  think  not,"  I  replied;  "you  must  have 
mistaken  me  for  some  other  person."  "No,  I  don't; 
I  saw  you  at  the  Town  Hall  last  evening."  "Is  it 
possible,  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  you  could  observe  individ 
uals  so  closely  in  such  a  crowd  ? "  "Oh  yes ! "  he  replied 
laughing,  "that  is  my  way,  I  don't  forget  faces." 
"Were  you  not  there?"  "I  was,  sir,  and  I  was  well 
paid  for  going."  As  we  entered  the  cars,  he  beckoned 
me  to  take  a  seat  with  him  and  said  in  a  most  agree- 


PREPARATION  27 

ably  frank  way,  "Were  you  sincere  in  what  you  said 
about  my  speech  just  now ? "  "I  meant  every  word  of 
it,  Mr.  Lincoln.  Why,  an  old  dyed-in-the-wool  Demo 
crat,  who  sat  near  me,  applauded  you  repeatedly;  and 
when  rallied  upon  his  conversion  to  sound  principles, 
answered,  '  I  don't  believe  a  word  he  says,  but  I  can't 
help  clapping  him,  he  is  so  pat!'  Indeed,  sir,  I 
learned  more  of  the  art  of  speaking  last  evening  than 
I  could  learn  from  a  whole  course  of  lectures  on 
Rhetoric." 

"Ah !  that  reminds  me,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  of  a  most 
extraordinary  circumstance  which  occurred  in  New 
Haven  the  other  day.  They  told  me  that  the  Pro 
fessor  of  Rhetoric  in  Yale  College  was  in  the  audience, 
— a  very  learned  man  isn't  he?" 

"Yes,  sir,  and  a  fine  critic,  too." 

1 '  Well,  I  suppose  so ;  he  ought  to  be,  at  any  rate.  They 
told  me  that  he  came  to  hear  me  and  took  notes  of  my 
speech  and  gave  a  lecture  on  it  to  his  class  the  next 
day ;  and  not  satisfied  with  that  he  followed  me  up  to 
Meriden  the  next  evening  and  heard  me  again  for  the 
same  purpose.  Now,  if  this  is  so,  it  is  to  my  mind 
very  extraordinary.  ..." 

"That  suggests,  Mr.  Lincoln,  an  inquiry  which  has 
several  times  been  upon  my  lips  during  this  conversa 
tion.  I  want  very  much  to  know  how  you  get  this 
unusual  power  of  'putting  things.'  It  must  have 
been  a  matter  of  education.  No  man  has  it  by  nature 
alone.  What  has  your  education  been?" 

"Well,  as  to  education,  the  newspapers  are  correct; 
I  never  went  to  school  more  than  six  months  in  my 
life.  But,  as  you  say,  this  must  be  a  product  of  culture 
in  some  form.  I  have  been  putting  the  question  you 
ask  me  to  myself,  while  you  have  been  talking.  I  can 


28  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

say  this,  that  among  my  earliest  recollections  I  re 
member  how,  when  a  mere  child,  I  used  to  get  irritated 
when  anybody  talked  to  me  in  a  way  I  could  not 
understand.  I  don't  think  I  ever  got  angry  at  any 
thing  else  in  my  life.  But  that  always  disturbed  my 
temper,  and  has  ever  since.  I  can  remember  going  to 
my  little  bedroom,  after  hearing  the  neighbours  talk 
of  an  evening  with  my  father,  and  spending  no  small 
part  of  the  night  walking  up  and  down,  and  trying  to 
make  out  what  was  the  exact  meaning  of  some  of  their, 
to  me,  dark  sayings.  I  could  not  sleep,  though  I  often 
tried  to,  when  I  got  on  such  a  hunt  after  an  idea,  until 
I  had  caught  it;  and  when  I  thought  I  had  got  it,  I 
was  not  satisfied  until  I  had  repeated  it  over  and  over, 
until  I  had  put  it  in  language  plain  enough,  as  I 
thought,  for  any  boy  I  knew  to  comprehend.  This 
was  a  kind  of  passion  with  me,  and  it  has  stuck  by 
me;  for  I  am  never  easy  now,  when  I  am  handling  a 
thought,  till  I  have  bounded  it  north,  and  bounded  it 
south,  and  bounded  it  east,  and  bounded  it  west. 
Perhaps  that  accounts  for  the  characteristic  you 
observe  in  my  speeches,  though  I  never  put  the  two 
things  together  before." 

"Mr.  Lincoln,  I  thank  you  for  this.  It  is  the  most 
splendid  educational  fact  I  ever  happened  upon.  .  .  . 
But  let  me  ask  you,  did  you  prepare  for  your  pro 
fession?" 

"Oh,  yes!  I  'read  law'  as  the  phrase  is;  that  is,  I 
became  a  lawyer's  clerk  in  Springfield,  and  copied 
tedious  documents,  and  picked  up  what  I  could  of  law 
in  the  intervals  of  other  wo^k.  But  your  question 
reminds  me  of  a  bit  of  education  I  had,  which  I  am 
bound  in  honesty  to  mention.  In  the  course  of  my 
law-reading,  I  constantly  came  upon  the  word  'dem- 


PREPARATION  29 

onstrate.'  I  thought  at  first  that  I  understood  its 
meaning,  but  soon  became  satisfied  that  I  did  not. 
I  said  to  myself,  '  What  do  I  mean  when  I  demonstrate 
more  than  when  I  reason  or  prove?'  I  consulted 
Webster's  Dictionary.  That  told  of  'certain  proof,' 
'proof  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt';  but  I  could 
form  no  idea  what  sort  of  proof  that  was.  I  thought  a 
great  many  things  were  proved  beyond  a  possibility 
of  doubt,  without  recourse  to  any  such  extraordinary 
process  of  reasoning  as  I  understood  '  demonstration' 
to  be.  I  consulted  all  the  dictionaries  and  books  of 
reference  I  could  find,  but  with  no  better  results.  You 
might  as  well  have  defined  '  blue '  to  a  blind  man.  At 
last  I  said,  'Lincoln,  you  can  never  make  a  lawyer  if 
you  do  not  understand  what  "demonstrate"  means'; 
and  I  left  my  situation  in  Springfield,  went  home  to 
my  father's  house,  and  stayed  there  till  I  could  give 
any  proposition  in  the  six  books  of  Euclid  at  sight.  I 
then  found  out  what  '  demonstrate '  means,  and  went 
back  to  my  law-studies." 

I  could  not  refrain  from  saying,  in  my  admiration 
at  such  a  development  of  character  and  genius  com 
bined:  "Mr.  Lincoln,  your  success  is  no  longer  a 
marvel.  It  is  the  legitimate  result  of  adequate  causes. 
You  deserve  it  all,  and  a  great  deal  more.  If  you  will 
permit  me,  I  would  like  to  use  this  fact  publicly. 
Euclid,  well  studied,  would  free  the  world  of  half  its 
calamities,  by  banishing  half  the  nonsense  which  now 
deludes  and  curses  it.  I  have  often  thought  that 
Euclid  would  be  one  of  the  best  books  to  put  on  the 
catalogue  of  the  Tract  Society,  if  they  could  only  get 
people  to  read  it.  It  would  be  a  means  of  grace.  " 
"I  think  so,  "  said  he,  laughing:  "I  vote  for  Euclid." 
As  we  neared  the  end  of  our  journey,  Mr.  Lincoln 


30  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

turned  to  me  very  pleasantly,  and  said:  "I  want  to 
thank  you  for  this  conversation.  I  have  enjoyed  it 
very  much." 

"  Mr.  Lincoln,  may  I  say  one  thing  to  you  before  we 
separate?" 

" Certainly,  anything  you  please." 

"You  have  become,  by  the  controversy  with  Mr. 
Douglas,  one  of  our  leaders  in  this  great  struggle  with 
slavery,  which  is  undoubtedly  the  struggle  of  the 
nation  and  the  age.  What  I  would  like  to  say  is  this, 
and  I  say  it  with  a  full  heart,  Be  true  to  your  principles 
and  we  will  be  true  to  you,  and  God  will  be  true  to  us  all!" 
His  homely  face  lighted  up  instantly  with  a  beaming 
expression,  and  taking  my  hand  warmly  in  both  of  his, 
he  said,  "I  say  Amen  to  that — Amen  to  that ! " 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   BLENDING   OF   THE   MENTAL   AND   THE   MORAL 

IN  the  dome  of  the  Congressional  Library  at 
Washington  is  this  inscription  from  the  Prophet 
Micah:  "What  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee, 
but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk 
humbly  with  thy  God?"  No  man  in  American 
history — no  man  in  the  history  of  the  world — ever 
more  completely  filled  this  measure  of  a  man  of 
God  than  did  Abraham  Lincoln.  But  his  growth 
was  gradual  in  godliness.  It  had  its  beginnings 
in  the  unquestioning  faith  in  the  teachings  of  his 
mother,  in  her  Bible  reading  to  him.  Then  he 
read  the  Scriptures  for  himself — read  them  as  he 
read  everything  else,  thoughtfully  and  with 
discrimination. 

The  religious  beliefs  of  his  early  years  were 
saturated  with  superstitions.  Belief  in  the  baneful 
influences  of  witches,  and  in  the  curative  power  of 
wizards  was  everywhere  prevalent.  To  shoot  the 
image  of  a  witch  with  a  silver  ball  was  believed  to 
break  the  spell  she  was  supposed  to  exercise  over 

31 


32  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

her  victims.  The  magic  divining  rod  of  the  water- 
wizard  was  followed  with  implicit  confidence,  as 
was  the  faith  doctor,  who  wrought  miraculous 
cures  with  strange  sounds  and  with  signals  to  some 
mysterious  power.  There  were  signs,  lucky  and 
unlucky,  while  the  phases  of  the  moon  were  be 
lieved  to  influence  the  minds  of  the  people,  as  well 
as  the  growth  of  vegetation.  It  would  have  been 
strange,  indeed,  had  not  Lincoln's  pensive  nature 
been  deeply  affected  by  this  atmosphere  of  super 
stition.  His  leaning  toward  the  supernatural 
manifested  itself  in  his  later  life  when  the  burden 
of  responsibility  for  the  world's  moral  progress,  if 
not  the  fate  of  civilization  itself,  seemed  to  rest 
upon  his  shoulders.  The  fatalistic  type  of  his  early 
religious  training  was  one  of  the  secrets  of  his 
never-wavering  faith  in  the  ultimate  victory  of  the 
forces  of  freedom.  While  his  thinking  and  his 
reading  gradually  broke  the  spell  of  the  grosser 
superstitions,  they  never  banished  his  belief  in  the 
significance  of  visions  and  dreams. 

Lincoln's  mystic  temperament  developed  along 
rational  lines,  thanks  in  part  to  his  step-mother's 
influence,  and  never  turned  him  aside  from  the 
well-surveyed  routes  his  thought  travelled  to  the 
final  goal  of  his  great  mission.  His  reading  had 
much  to  do  in  determining  the  type  of  his  religious 


THE  MENTAL  AND  THE  MORAL  33 


life.  His  favourite  books  were  the  Bible, 
Fables,  Banyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  Shake 
speare's  plays,  though  in  addition  he  read  every 
book  he  could  borrow  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles. 
Everything  was  grist  that  came  to  his  intellectual 
mill.  He  got  hold  of  a  copy  of  the  Revised  Statutes 
of  Indiana,  and  read  it  with  as  much  avidity  as  the 
ordinary  boy  would  read  a  tale  of  adventure.  Nor 
was  his  reading  superficial.  When  in  the  field 
plowing,  he  would  stop  to  read,  and  then  ponder 
on  what  he  had  read  after  resuming  his  labour. 
Among  other  books  that  fell  into  his  hands  was 
Weems's  Life  oj  Washington,  a  work  that  added 
fuel  to  the  glowing  flame  of  patriotism  always 
inseparable  from  his  sense  of  loyalty  to  God.  One 
of  his  most  treasured  volumes  was  a  borrowed 
book  which  he  damaged,  and  then  "  pulled  fodder" 
for  three  days  to  pay  for  it. 

But  the  Bible  was  his  favourite.  Indeed,  it  was 
the  first  book  he  read  with  interest  and  apprecia 
tion.  Poring  over  it  for  hours  at  a  time,  his 
memory  became  saturated  with  its  language,  his 
soul  with  its  spirit,  his  life  with  its  teachings.  So 
familiar  did  he  become  with  the  Scripture  phraseol 
ogy,  and  so  imbued  with  the  solemnly  grand  strain 
of  thought  and  feeling  that  pervades  the  sacred 
pages,  that  his  utterances  often  breathe  the  sub- 


34  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

limity  of  the  prophets,  the  poetry  of  Job  or  the 
Psalmist,  the  sweetness  and  pathos  of  the  Gospels. 
Hence  it  was  that  he  was  enabled,  as  at  Gettys 
burg,  to  fire  the  finest  intellects  with  enthusiastic 
admiration  and  strangely  to  move  and  thrill  the 
hearts  of  the  multitudes.  In  August,  1920,  at  the 
unveiling  of  the  Lincoln  Statue  near  Westminster 
Abbey,  Lloyd  George  said,  "I  doubt  whether  any 
statesman  who  ever  lived  sank  so  deeply  into  the 
hearts  of  people  of  many  lands  as  did  Abraham 
Lincoln." 

In  his  early  teens,  Lincoln  acquired  a  facility  of 
expression,  both  with  tongue  and  pen,  unusual  in 
one  of  his  years.  He  began  public  speaking  to  his 
schoolmates  and  his  fellow-labourers,  and  wrote 
compositions  on  all  sorts  of  subjects.  An  essay  on 
temperance,  written  in  his  seventeenth  year,  so 
attracted  the  favourable  attention  of  Aaron 
Fanner,  a  Baptist  preacher  of  local  renown,  that 
he  sent  it  to  an  Ohio  newspaper  for  publication. 
About  this  time,  too,  Lincoln  prepared  an  essay  on 
the  American  Government,  calling  attention  to 
the  necessity  of  preserving  the  Constitution  and 
the  perpetuation  of  the  Union.  John  Pitcher,  a 
lawyer,  who  afterward  became  a  judge  declared 
this  composition  "a  world  beater."  It  is  remark 
able  that,  at  so  early  an  age,  he  should  have  per- 


THE  MENTAL  AND  THE  MORAL  35 

ceived  the  precise  issue  upon  which  he  was 
to  wage  his  battle  for  human  rights,  and  upon 
which  the  political  differences  that  agitated  the 
Republic  were  to  be  fought  out  in  the  great  Civil 
War. 

All  these  preparatory  experiences  would,  in  some 
natures,  have  developed  a  Caligula  or  a  Nero. 
But  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  of  the  stuff  of 
which  tyrants  are  made;  and  the  time  was 
swiftly  approaching  when  the  American  people 
would  need  a  leader,  not  simply  of  command 
ing  intellect  but  also  of  heart  big  enough  to 
encompass  all  the  people,  and,  in  return,  win 
all.  Lincoln's  experiences  and  his  religious  train 
ing  had  deepened  and  intensified  his  native 
kindliness  of  heart  until,  later  in  life,  it  bordered 
close  upon  being  a  fault.  He  himself  appeared 
to  think  so. 

It  was  sometimes  hard  for  him  to  do  justice,  so 
dearly  did  he  love  mercy.  His  compassion  extended 
to  dumb  brutes  and  was  scarcely  less  in  its  intens 
ity  than  his  passion  for  mercy  to  his  kind.  When 
Thomas  Lincoln,  with  his  family,  moved  from 
Indiana  to  Illinois,  the  streams  had  to  be  forded, 
for  bridges  were  not  then  in  fashion.  One  day, 
after  crossing  a  river,  the  family  dog  was  missing. 
Looking  back,  they  saw  him  on  the  opposite  side, 


36  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

whining  piteously.  As  the  banks  were  fringed  with 
broken  ice,  the  dog  was  afraid  to  make  the  plunge. 
To  the  suggestion  that  they  go  on  without  him, 
Abe  said:  "I  could  not  endure  the  thought  of 
abandoning  even  a  dog."  Pulling  off  his  shoes  and 
socks,  he  waded  the  icy  stream  and  returned  with 
the  quivering  animal  under  his  arm.  Lincoln 
declared  that  the  frantic  leaps  of  joy  and  the  other 
demonstrations  of  gratitude  by  the  dog  were  re 
ward  enough. 

It  was  this  same  tender  heart,  only  grown  bigger 
and  more  tender,  to  which,  when  he  became  Presi 
dent,  the  mothers  never  appealed  in  vain  when 
their  soldier  boys  were  under  penalty  of  death. 
Secretary  Stanton  often  complained  that  he  could 
never  get  soldiers  shot  for  desertion  if  the  women 
succeeded  in  getting  to  Lincoln  first.  A  soldier 
with  a  grievance,  who  had  been  rebuffed  by  every 
one  else  to  whom  he  had  appealed,  followed  Mr. 
Lincoln  to  the  Soldiers'  Home  near  Washington. 
The  President,  beset  by  disaster  on  every  hand, 
and  overborne  with  care,  reproved  the  man  and 
sent  him  away.  After  a  night  of  remorse,  Lincoln 
went  early  the  next  morning  to  the  man's  hotel, 
begged  his  forgiveness  for  treating  with  rudeness 
one  in  sore  distress  who  had  offered  his  life  for  his 
country,  took  him  in  his  carriage  and  saw  him 


THE  MENTAL  AND  THE  MORAL  37 

through  his  difficulties.  Secretary  Stanton,  when 
told  what  had  been  done,  apologized  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  for  having  rejected  the  man's  appeal. 
"No,  no,"  replied  Lincoln,  "you  did  right  in  ad 
hering  to  your  rules.  If  we  had  such  a  soft-headed 
old  fool  as  I  am  in  your  place  there  would  be  no 
rules  that  the  Army  and  the  Country  could  depend 
upon." 

Lincoln's  moral  preparation  for  the  burdens  of 
responsibilities  yet  to  be  thrust  upon  him  was 
commensurate  with  his  physical  growth,  his  mental 
development,  his  tenderness  of  heart.  Grown  up 
under  crude  environment,  subjected  to  the  in 
fluences  of  roughness,  coarseness,  intemperance, 
and  immorality,  endowed  with  abounding  physical 
vigour  and  enjoying  well-nigh  universal  popularity 
among  both  men  and  women,  from  his  youth  he 
lived  his  life  clean  and  wholesome.  He  shared  the 
sports  and  pleasures  of  his  youthful  contempor 
aries,  yet  at  no  point  did  he  yield  to  those  human 
weaknesses  which  impair  both  the  moral  stamina 
and  the  physical  powers. 

In  after  years,  when  the  political  tempest  was  at 
its  worst,  when  bitterness  and  hatred  reached  the 
white  heat  of  threatened  assassination,  his  an 
tagonists,  bent  upon  his  political  destruction, 
searched  in  vain  his  whole  life  through  for  some 


38  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

moral  taint,  some  scandal,  some  dishonest  act,  but 
found  nothing  that  might  not  have  been  pro 
claimed  from  the  housetops  to  his  honour.  He 
walked  humbly  with  his  God. 


CHAPTER  V 

FORTUNATE  FAILURES 

AT  the  age  of  twenty-one,  Lincoln,  with  the  rest 
of  the  family,  moved  into  Illinois.  The  time  had 
now  come  to  begin  life  for  himself.  He  had  long 
felt  the  call  to  a  broader  field  of  activity  than  the 
circumstances  of  his  home  life  afforded,  and  had 
often  been  tempted  to  break  away  and  strike  out 
for  a  future  of  his  own.  But  his  sense  of  loyalty 
and  obligation  to  his  parents  had  held  him  from  the 
fulfilment  of  his  longing  for  a  more  active  life. 
Being  now  of  age,  he  could  follow  the  bent  of  his 
aspirations. 

He  did  not  hesitate  to  accept  the  most  humble 
tasks  in  order  to  meet  his  pressing  necessities.  His 
great  physical  strength  enabled  him  to  perform  the 
severest  kinds  of  labour,  such  as  cutting  cord-wood, 
working  on  farms,  operating  a  flatboat,  and  split 
ting  rails.  He  did  some  clerking  in  a  grocery  store, 
and  also  tried  his  hand  at  running  a  store  for 
himself. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Black  Hawk  War  in 
39 


40  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

1832,  Lincoln  promptly  enlisted  at  the  call  of  the 
Governor  for  troops  to  put  down  the  uprising  of 
the  noted  Indian  Chief.  Though  but  twenty- 
three,  his  popularity  led  to  his  election  as  Captain 
of  the  Sangamon  County  Contingent,  and  brought 
him  more  widely  into  public  notice.  The  sterling 
qualities  he  exhibited,  and  his  considerate  treat 
ment  of  the  men  under  his  command,  still  further 
increased  his  growing  popularity.  But  Lincoln  was 
in  no  battle.  He  did  not  take  the  war  seriously. 
He  rather  looked  upon  it  as  something  of  a  joke 
and  described  it  later  in  a  semi-humorous  vein. 

In  the  same  year  he  stood  for  election  to  the 
Legislature  of  Illinois,  and  was  defeated,  but  had 
the  consolation  of  knowing  that,  of  the  entire  two 
hundred  and  eight  votes  cast  in  his  home  precinct, 
he  received  all  but  three.  This  was  the  only  defeat 
he  ever  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  people;  for  in 
his  race  against  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the  United 
States  Senate  he  received  a  majority  of  the  popular 
vote  in  the  State,  though  with  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  Legislature  against  him  he  was  not 
elected. 

In  this  first  political  campaign,  Lincoln,  always 
mindful  of  religion,  issued  a  circular  announcing 
his  platform  of  principles,  in  which  he  declared 
that  all  citizens,  however  poor,  should  be  afforded 


FORTUNATE  FAILURES  41 

an  opportunity  to  acquire  at  least  a  moderate 
education,  to  the  end  that  they  might  be  able  "to 
read  the  Scriptures  and  other  works,  both  of  a 
moral  and  religious  nature,  for  themselves."  This 
doctrine  contained  the  germ  that  has  flowered  into 
the  magnificent  Public  School  System,  through 
which  every  State  in  the  Union  offers  its  youth, 
not  only  a  moderate  education,  but  also  the  high 
est  scholastic  attainments.  This  first  political 
output  of  the  future  President  grew  out  of  the 
deprivations  of  his  youth  and  was  affected  by  his 
early  home  training. 

From  his  defeat  in  politics  Lincoln  turned  again 
to  business.  But  there,  too,  he  promptly  failed. 
His  partner,  William  Barry,  in  the  little  country 
store  drank  too  much,  and  Lincoln  read  too  much 
and  told  too  many  stories  for  the  good  of  trade. 
In  consequence,  in  the  spring  of  1833  the  store's 
stock  was  sold  to  satisfy  the  creditors;  but  running 
true  to  form,  Lincoln  took  upon  himself  the  re 
sponsibility  for  the  firm's  debts,  the  last  of  which 
he  paid  in  1848. 

It  was  in  the  days  that  followed  at  New  Salem, 
where  he  eked  out  a  bare  living  for  several  years  as 
postmaster  and  surveyor,  that  a  failure  overtook 
him  which  plunged  him  into  sorrow  so  profound 
that  for  a  time  his  friends  feared  he  would  take 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

away  his  life.  The  fair  Anne  Rutledge  seemed  to 
have  been  abandoned  by  her  betrothed.  Lincoln, 
boarding  at  her  father's  tavern,  essayed  the  role  of 
comforter  as  he  daily  sat  at  table  with  her  or  whiled 
away  the  evening  by  her  side.  It  is  doubtful  that 
her  heart  was  ever  weaned  away  from  her  first 
love,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  Lincoln's  sym 
pathy  soon  turned  into  genuine  affection  and  they 
were  to  be  married  when  Anne  fell  ill  and  died. 
From  this  grief  he  never  quite  recovered.  He  used 
to  stand  beside  her  grave  and  tearfully  protest: 
"I  cannot  bear  to  have  the  rain  fall  upon  her." 
When  in  the  White  House  he  once  said,  "I  really 
loved  that  girl";  and  there  is  good  reason  to 
believe  it  was  with  her  in  mind  he  used  to  quote 
the  verse  of  Dr.  Holmes : 

The  mossy  marbles  rest 

On  the  lips  that  he  has  prest 

In  their  bloom. 

These  early  failures  in  public  life,  business,  love, 
had  a  large  share  in  the  making  of  the  man  of  God. 
In  place  of  a  Napoleon,  a  John  Wanamaker,  or  an 
obscure  family  man  too  early  wedded,  they  assured 
America  her  Lincoln.  They  deepened  his  capacity 
to  feel.  They  gave  him  an  appreciation  success 
can  never  give  of  what  in  life  is  really  worth  while. 


FORTUNATE  FAILURES  43 

They  saved  him  from  the  temptation  high  success 
at  last  invariably  brings  to  break  with  God  and  to 
overestimate  one's  own  importance.  They  tem 
pered  the  fine  steel  of  his  strong  character  so  that 
he  could  set  even  Cabinet  ministers  in  their  proper 
place  without  obtruding  on  them  anything  that 
could  be  called  executive  conceit.  They  helped 
him  to  keep  close  to  the  deeper  things  of  life,  and 
they  make  it  easier  for  us  to  understand  how  he 
turned  away  from  the  anxieties  and  worries  of  high 
office  to  seek  comfort  in  the  lines  he  had  his  young 
Secretary,  John  Hay,  read  to  him  from  The  Tempest: 

We  are  such  stuff 

As  dreams  are  made  on;  and  our  little  life 
Is  rounded  with  a  sleep. 


CHAPTER  VI 

OMINOUS   SHADOWS 

SOME  natures  are  endowed  with  a  prescience  far 
above  the  ordinary.  "  Coming  events  cast  their 
shadows  before";  but  the  rare  few  discern  the 
shadows  and  rightly  interpret  them.  The  foot 
falls  of  the  march  of  coming  events  may  be  caught 
only  by  ears  attuned  to  hear  them.  Abraham 
Lincoln  made  no  claim  to  divination,  but  he  was 
quick  to  read  and  to  interpret  the  signs  of  the  times. 
As  a  young  man  his  responsive  soul  was  strangely 
disturbed,  while  the  multitudes  were  thought 
lessly  at  their  ease.  He  dipped  far  into  the  future 
while  others  made  merry  with  today.  At  twenty- 
six  Lincoln  was  at  least  a  score  of  years  ahead  of 
his  time. 

Even  then  he  sensed  the  danger  that  some  astute 
demagogue  might  take  advantage  of  turmoil  and 
unrest,  seize  the  reins  of  power,  and  make  himself 
dictator.  Against  such  usurpation  Lincoln  would 
forfend  by  fortifying  the  public  mind  with  a  con 
servative  democracy  that  would  guide  the  Nation 

44 


OMINOUS  SHADOWS  45 

triumphantly  through  any  national  transition, 
such  as,  indeed,  was  already  under  way.  He  was 
firm  in  the  belief  that  God  was  at  the  helm,  and 
that  man  was  but  the  humble  though  cooperating 
agent  through  whom  the  Almighty  was  working 
out  the  destiny  of  mankind.  With  these  thoughts 
swelling  in  his  mind,  when  but  twenty-eight  years 
old,  he  made  an  address  before  the  Young  Men's 
Lyceum  of  Springfield,  on  "The  Perpetuation  of 
Our  Political  Institutions,"  which  deserves  to  be 
far  better  known.  It  shows  how  this  humble 
prairie  lawyer,  even  then,  was  thinking  far 
ahead  and  making  ready  to  lead  the  people 
into  light.  His  perception  of  the  trend  of  events 
seemed  in  the  circumstances  almost  preternatural. 
He  said: 

In  the  great  journal  of  things  happening  under  the 
sun,  we,  the  American  people,  find  our  account  running 
under  date  of  the  nineteenth  century  of  the  Christian 
era.  We  find  ourselves  in  the  peaceful  possession  of 
the  fairest  portion  of  the  earth,  as  regards  fertility  of 
soil,  extent  of  territory,  and  salubrity  of  climate.  We 
find  ourselves  under  the  government  of  a  system  of 
political  institutions  conducing  more  essentially  to 
the  ends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  than  any  of  which 
the  history  of  former  times  tells  us. 

We,  when  mounting  the  stage  of  existence,  find 
ourselves  the  legal  inheritors  of  these  fundamental 
blessings.  We  toiled  not  in  the  acquirement  or  the 


46  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

establishment  of  them.  They  are  a  legacy  bequeathed 
to  us  by  a  once  hardy,  brave,  patriotic,  but  now 
lamented  and  departed  race  of  ancestors. 

Theirs  was  the  task  (  and  nobly  they  performed  it) 
to  possess  themselves,  and  through  themselves  us,  of 
this  goodly  land  and  to  rear  upon  its  hills  and  valleys 
a  political  edifice  of  liberty  and  equal  rights.  'Tis  ours 
only  to  transmit  these,  the  former  unprofaned  by  the 
foot  of  the  invader  and  the  latter  undecayed  by  the 
lapse  of  time.  This,  our  duty  to  ourselves,  and  our 
posterity,  and  love  for  our  species  in  general,  impera 
tively  requires  us  to  perform. 

How,  then,  shall  we  perform  it  ?  At  what  point  shall 
we  expect  the  approach  of  danger?  By  what  means 
shall  we  fortify  against  it  ?  Shall  we  expect  some  trans 
atlantic  giant  to  step  across  the  ocean  and  crush  us  at 
a  blow?  Never.  All  the  armies  of  Europe,  Asia,  and 
Africa  combined,  with  all  the  treasure  of  the  earth 
(our  own  excepted)  in  -their  military  chest  with  a 
Bonaparte  for  a  commander,  could  not  by  force  take 
a  drink  from  the  Ohio  or  make  a  track  on  the  Blue 
Ridge  in  a  trial  of  a  thousand  years.  At  what  point 
then,  is  the  approach  of  danger  to  be  expected?  I 
answer,  if  it  ever  reaches  us,  it  must  spring  up  among 
us.  It  cannot  come  from  abroad.  If  destruction  be 
our  lot,  we  must  ourselves  be  its  author  and  finisher. 
As  a  nation  of  freemen,  we  must  live  through  all  time 
or  die  by  suicide.  There  is  even  now  something  of  ill 
omen  among  us.  I  mean  the  increasing  disregard  of 
law  which  pervades  the  country,  the  growing  disposi 
tion  to  substitute  the  wild  and  furious  passions  in  lieu 
of  the  sober  judgment  of  courts,  and  the  worse  than 
savage  mobs,  for  the  executive  ministers  of  justice. 
This  disposition  is  fearful  in  any  community,  and  that 


OMINOUS  SHADOWS  47 

it  exists  in  ours,  though  grating  to  our  feeling  to  admit, 
it  would  be  a  violation  of  truth  and  an  insult  to  intelli 
gence  to  deny.  I  know  the  American  people  are  much 
attached  to  their  government.  I  know  they  would 
suffer  much  for  its  sake.  I  know  they  would  endure 
evils  long  and  patiently  before  they  would  think  of 
exchanging  it  for  another.  Yet  notwithstanding  all 
this,  if  the  laws  be  continually  despised  and  disre 
garded,  if  their  rights  to  be  secure  in  their  persons  and 
property  are  held  by  no  better  tenure  than  the  caprice 
of  a  mob,  the  alienation  of  their  affection  from  the 
government  is  a  natural  consequence,  and  to  that 
sooner  or  later  it  must  come. 

Here,  then,  is  the  one  point  at  which  danger  may  be 
expected.  The  question  recurs,  how  shall  we  fortify 
against  it  ?  The  answer  is  simple :  let  every  American, 
every  lover  of  liberty,  every  well-wisher  to  his  poster 
ity,  swear  by  the  blood  of  the  Revolution  never  to 
violate  in  the  least  particular  the  laws  of  the  country, 
and  never  to  tolerate  their  violation  by  others.  As  the 
patriots  of  '76  did  to  the  support  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  so  to  the  support  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws,  let  every  American  pledge  his  life,  his 
property  and  his  sacred  honour;  let  every  man  re 
member  that  to  violate  the  law  is  to  trample  upon  the 
blood  of  his  fathers  and  to  tear  the  charter  of  his  own 
and  his  children's  liberty.  Let  reverence  for  the  laws 
be  breathed  by  every  American  mother  to  the  lisp 
ing  babe  that  prattles  on  her  lap.  Let  it  be  taught 
in  schools,  in  seminaries,  and  in  colleges.  Let  it  be 
written  in  primers,  spelling  books,  and  almanacs.  Let 
it  be  preached  from  the  pulpits,  proclaimed  in  legisla 
tive  halls,  and  enforced  in  courts  of  justice.  In  short, 
let  it  become  the  political  religion  of  the  nation. 


48  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Developing  his  theme,  Lincoln  pointed  out  the 
logical  result  that  flows  from  growing  lawlessness: 

Many  great  and  good  men,  sufficiently  qualified 
for  any  task  they  should  undertake,  may  ever  be 
found,  whose  ambition  would  aspire  to  nothing  beyond 
a  seat  in  Congress,  a  gubernatorial,  or  a  presidential 
chair.  But  such  belong  not  to  the  family  of  the  lion 
or  the  brood  of  the  eagles.  What?  Think  you  these 
places  would  satisfy  an  Alexander,  a  Caesar  or  a 
Napoleon?  Never.  Towering  genius  disdains  a 
beaten  path.  It  seeks  regions  heretofore  unexplored. 
It  sees  no  distinction  in  adding  story  to  story  upon  the 
monuments  of  fame  directed  to  the  memory  of  others. 
It  denies  that  it  is  glory  enough  to  serve  under  a  chief. 
It  scorns  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  any  predecessor, 
however  illustrious.  It  thirsts  and  burns  for  distinc 
tion,  and  if  possible  it  will  have  it,  whether  at  the  ex 
pense  of  emancipating  slaves  or  enslaving  freemen. 

Is  it  unreasonable,  then,  to  expect  that  some  man, 
possessed  of  the  loftiest  genius,  coupled  with  ambition 
sufficient  to  push  it  to  its  utmost  stretch,  will  at  some 
time  spring  up  amongst  us,  and  when  such  an  one  does, 
it  will  require  the  people  to  be  united  with  each  other, 
attached  to  the  government  and  the  laws,  and  gener 
ally  intelligent,  successfully  to  frustrate  his  design. 

Distinction  will  be  his  paramount  object,  and  al 
though  he  would  as  willingly,  perhaps  more  so,  acquire 
it  by  doing  good  as  harm,  yet  that  opportunity  being 
passed  and  nothing  left  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  building 
up,  he  would  sit  down  boldly  to  the  task  of  pulling  down. 

Here,  then,  is  a  probable  case,  highly  dangerous, 
and  such  a  case  could  not  have  well  existed  heretofore. 


OMINOUS  SHADOWS  49 

At  times  Lincoln  evinced  an  almost  uncanny 
foresight  as  he  foresaw  that  in  some  way  he  was  to 
be  instrumental,  under  God,  in  leading  the  Nation 
through  the  approaching  crisis.  To  him  slavery 
was  what  he  once  called  "the  double-refined  curse 
of  God  upon  His  creatures,  "'for  which  atonement 
could  at  last  be  made  only  by  its  entire  destruction. 
Slavery  was  legally  right  in  any  State  that  saw  fit 
to  adopt  it;  but  it  was  everywhere  and  always 
morally  wrong. 

When  still  a  young  man,  Lincoln  made  his  second 
trip  to  New  Orleans  with  a  cargo  of  produce.  After 
disposing  of  the  cargo  he,  with  one  of  his  fellow 
boatmen,  sauntered  through  one  of  the  great  slave 
marts.  Here  planters  were  gathered  from  all 
parts  of  the  south-west.  Black  men,  women,  and 
children  were  in  rows  for  sale.  The  auctioneer 
cried  their  good  qualities,  inviting  purchasers  to 
examine  them,  as  though  they  were  horses  or 
mules.  If  any  of  the  slaves  happened  to  be  pro 
fessing  Christians,  the  fact  was  in  itself  regarded 
as  a  special  asset  to  enhance  the  value  of  the  slave 
upon  the  block.  Again  and  again  the  hammer  fell. 
Husbands  were  separated  from  wives,  parents  from 
children,  brothers  from  sisters.  Lincoln  witnessed 

1  Temple  Scott,  p.  54,  quoting  a  Fragment  on  Slavery,  July 
i,  I854- 


50  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

the  scene  with  a  horror  words  could  not  express. 
His  lips  quivered  and  his  voice  choked  as  he  turned 
to  his  companion  and  is  reported  to  have  said: 
"If  ever  I  get  a  chance  to  hit  that  thing,  I  will  hit 
it  hard!" 

Commenting  upon  this  incident,  Dr.  Gregg  has 
truly  said: 

Who  was  Abraham  Lincoln  to  hit  the  thing  a  blow  ? 
He  was  only  a  boatman,  a  splitter  of  rails,  a  teamster, 
a  backwoodsman.  His  poverty  was  so  deep  that  his 
clothes  were  in  tatters.  What  position  of  influence  or 
power  was  he  likely  to  attain,  to  enable  him  to  strike 
a  blow?  The  thing  which  he  would  like  to  hit  was 
incorporated  into  the  framework  of  society  and  legal 
ized  in  half  the  States  composing  the  Republic.  It 
was  intrenched  in  church  and  state  alike.  It  was  a 
political  force,  recognized  in  the  Constitution.  It 
entered  into  the  basis  of  representation.  Was  there 
the  remotest  probability  that  he  would  ever  be  able 
to  smite  such  an  institution  ?  Why  did  he  utter  these 
words?  Why  did  he  raise  his  right  hand  to  Heaven 
and  swear  the  solemn  oath  ?  Was  it  some  dim  vision 
of  what  might  come  to  him  through  divine  Providence, 
in  the  unfolding  years?  Was  it  an  illumination  of  the 
Spirit,  forecasting  for  the  moment  the  impending  con 
flict  between  right  and  wrong,  in  which  he  was  to  play 
the  leading  role  ?  Was  it  a  whisper  by  a  divine  messen 
ger,  that  he  was  to  be  the  chosen  one  to  wipe  the 
"thing"  from  the  earth  and  give  deliverance  to 
millions  of  his  f  ellowmen  ?  Was  it  not  rather  the  mind 
and  heart  and  power  of  God  planted  by  heredity  and 


OMINOUS  SHADOWS  51 

early  training  in  the  depths  of  his  being  and  abiding 
there  with  a  holy  impatience  waiting  for  the  clock  of 
destiny  to  strike  ? 

The  mystic  element  in  Lincoln's  nature  mani 
fested  itself  in  prophetic  visions  and  expressions 
not  unsuited  to  the  time  but  cryptic  to  his  follow 
ers.  In  August,  1837,  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  six  other 
lawyers  and  two  doctors,  went  in  a  band  wagon 
from  Springfield  to  Salem  to  attend  a  camp-meet 
ing.  On  the  way  Lincoln  cracked  jokes  about  the 
horses,  the  wagon,  the  lawyers,  the  doctors — 
indeed  about  nearly  everything.  At  the  camp- 
meeting  Dr.  Peter  Akers,  like  Peter  Cartwright,  a 
great  Bible  preacher  of  his  day,  then  in  the  fulness 
of  his  powers,  preached  a  sermon  on  "The  Domin 
ion  of  Jesus  Christ. ' '  The  object  of  the  sermon  was 
to  show  that  the  dominion  of  Christ  could  not 
come  in  America  until  American  slavery  was  wiped 
out,  and  that  the  institution  of  slavery  would  at 
last  be  destroyed  by  civil  war.  For  three  hours  the 
preacher  unrolled  his  argument  and  even  gave 
graphic  pictures  of  the  war  that  was  to  come. 
"I  am  not  a  prophet  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet," 
said  he,  "but  a  student  of  the  prophets.  As  I  read 
prophecy,  American  slavery  will  come  to  an  end 
in  some  near  decade,  I  think  in  the  sixties." 

Akers 's  audience  was  composed  mostly  of  people 


52  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

from  the  slave  States,  and  was  decidedly  pro- 
slavery.  Indeed,  there  were  scarcely  enough  aboli 
tionists  outside  of  Boston  to  count.  This  great 
sermon  was  preached  within  sixty  miles  of  Alton, 
where  a  few  weeks  before  Lovejoy  had  been  mur 
dered  by  a  pro-slavery  mob.  The  people  surged 
about  the  preacher  in  wild  excitement  as  he  de 
nounced  slavery  and  predicted  the  approaching 
war.  At  the  climax  of  his  sermon  he  cried  at  the 
top  of  his  voice:  "Who  can  tell  but  that  the  man 
who  shall  lead  us  through  this  strife  may  be  stand 
ing  in  this  presence ! ' '  Only  thirty  feet  away  stood 
Lincoln  drinking  in  his  every  word. 

That  night,  on  the  return  trip  to  Springfield, 
Lincoln  was  silent.  After  some  time  one  of  the 
doctors,  an  intimate  friend,  asked:  "Lincoln, 
what  do  you  think  of  that  sermon?"  After  a 
moment  Lincoln  replied:  "I  never  thought  such 
power  could  be  given  to  mortal  man.  Those  words 
were  from  beyond  the  speaker.  The  Doctor  has 
persuaded  me  that  American  slavery  will  go  down 
with  the  crash  of  a  civil  war."  Then  for  a  few 
moments  he  was  silent.  Finally  the  solemn  words 
came  slowly  forth:  "Gentlemen:  you  may  be 
surprised  and  think  it  strange,  but  when  the 
Doctor  was  describing  the  Civil  War,  I  distinctly 
saw  myself  as  in  second  sight,  bearing  an  impor- 


OMINOUS  SHADOWS  53 

tant  part  in  that  strife."  Some  there  were  who 
believed  that,  even  then,  he  caught  a  glimpse  of 
his  part  in  the  bloody  drama  more  than  a  score 
of  years  distant,  and  the  fearful  tragedy  in  which 
it  was  to  end. 

The  next  morning,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  came  late 
to  his  office,  his  partner,  without  looking  up,  said: 
"Lincoln  you  have  been  wanted,"  then  glancing 
up  at  Lincoln's  haggard  face  he  exclaimed:  "Why, 
Lincoln,  what's  the  matter  with  you?"  Lincoln 
replied  by  telling  him  about  the  sermon,  and  said : 
* '  I  am  utterly  unable  to  shake  from  myself  the  con 
viction  that  I  shall  be  involved  in  that  tragedy."  * 

1Prom  Bishop  C.  H.  Fowler's  Patriotic  Orations,  also  Ida 
Tarbell's  Life  of  Lincoln. 


CHAPTER  VII 

COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION 

LINCOLN  displayed  courage  always  moral  in  the 
political  alliances  he  formed.  Practically,  he 
joined  no  political  party.  He  was  against  the 
party  then  dominant.  The  State  of  Illinois  was 
overwhelmingly  democratic  and  strongly  attached 
to  the  person  and  policies  of  Andrew  Jackson. 
The  Jackson  majority  was  intolerant.  It  con 
trolled  the  patronage  and  lived  up  to  the  maxim: 
"To  the  victor  belongs  the  spoils."  The  road  to 
preferment  was  evidently  through  alliance  with 
the  Jackson  party.  Lincoln's  biographers,  Nicolay 
and  Hay,  write: 

It  showed  some  moral  courage  and  certainly  the 
absence  of  the  shuffling  politician's  policy,  that  Lin 
coln,  in  his  obscure  youth,  when  what  little  social 
influence  he  knew  would  have  led  the  other  way, 
opposed  a  furiously  intolerant  majority  and  took  his 
stand  with  the  party  which  was  doomed  to  long  con 
tinued  defeat  in  Illinois. 

The  fact  is,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  making  for 
himself,  though  he  was  not  aware  of  it,  a  party 

54 


COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION  55 

whose  sole  platform  was  truth,  justice,  righteous 
ness,  God. 

When  he  first  became  a  candidate  for  the  Legis 
lature,  Lincoln  issued  an  address  to  the  voters,  in 
which  in  the  following  words  he  modestly  fur 
nished  a  keynote  to  his  whole  career: 

Every  man  is  said  to  have  his  peculiar  ambition. 
Whether  it  be  true  or  not,  I  can  say,  for  one,  that  I 
have  no  other  so  great  as  that  of  being  truly  esteemed 
by  my  fellowmen  by  rendering  myself  worthy  of  their 
esteem.  How  far  I  shall  succeed  in  gratifying  this 
ambition  is  yet  to  be  developed.  I  am  young  and 
unknown  to  many  of  you.  I  was  born  and  have 
ever  remained  in  the  most  humble  walks  of  life.  I 
have  no  powerful  or  wealthy  relations  or  friends 
to  recommend  me.  My  case  is  thrown  exclusively 
upon  the  independent  voters  of  the  country,  and  if 
elected,  they  will  have  conferred  a  favour  upon  me 
for  which  I  shall  be  unremitting  in  my  labour  to 
compensate.  But  if  the  good  people  in  their  wisdom, 
shall  see  fit  to  keep  me  in  the  background,  I  have 
been  too  familiar  with  disappointment  to  be  very 
much  chagrined. 

In  1836,  again  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature, 
Lincoln  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  singling 
out  the  moral  issue  from  all  others  and  by  putting 
to  confusion  his  political  opponent  in  ' '  the  lightning 
rod"  speech  not  popularly  known. 

There  lived,  in  the  most  pretentious  house  in 


56  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

town,  a  politician  by  the  name  of  George  Forquer 
who  had  long  been  known  as  a  leading  Whig  but 
who  now  had  gone  over  to  the  Democrats,  and  had 
received  from  the  democratic  administration  an 
appointment  to  the  lucrative  post  of  Register  of  the 
Land  Office  at  Springfield. 

Upon  his  handsome  new  house  he  had  lately 
placed  a  lightning  rod,  the  first  one  ever  put  up  in 
Sangamon  County.  As  Lincoln  was  riding  into 
town  with  his  friends  they  passed  the  fine  house  of 
Forquer,  observed  the  novelty,  and  discussed  the 
manner  in  which  the  rod  protected  the  house  from 
being  struck  by  lightning. 

There  was  a  large  meeting  and  great  curiosity  to 
hear  the  speaker  from  New  Salem.  There  were 
seven  Whig  and  seven  Democratic  candidates  for 
the  lower  branch  of  the  Legislature,  and  after 
several  had  spoken  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  Lincoln  to 
close  the  discussion.  Forquer,  though  not  a  candi 
date,  asked  to  be  heard  for  the  Democrats  in  reply 
to  Lincoln.  He  was  a  good  speaker,  and  his  special 
task  was  to  attack  and  ridicule  the  young  country 
man  from  Salem. 

Turning  to  Lincoln  he  said:  "This  young  man 
must  be  taken  down  and  I  am  sorry  that  the  task 
devolves  on  me."  He  proceeded  to  heap  ridicule 
on  the  person,  dress,  and  arguments  of  Lincoln,  and 


COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION  57 

with  so  much  success  that  Lincoln's  friends  feared 
the  outcome. 

As  soon  as  Forquer  closed,  Lincoln  took  the 
stand  and  one  by  one  demolished  his  opponent's 
arguments,  ending  with  these  words: 

The  gentleman  began  his  speech  by  saying  that  this 
young  man,  alluding  to  me,  must  be  taken  down.  I 
am  not  so  young  in  years  as  I  am  in  the  tricks  and  the 
trades  of  a  politician,  but  [he  went  on,  pointing  to  the 
unfortunate  Forquer],  live  long  or  die  young,  I  would 
rather  die  now,  than,  like  this  gentleman,  change  my 
politics  and  with  the  change  receive  an  office  worth 
three  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  then  feel  obliged  to 
erect  a  lightning  rod  over  my  house  to  protect  a  guilty 
conscience  from  an  offended  God. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  the  effect  produced  on  the 
old  settlers  by  these  words.  They  had  slept  all 
their  lives  in  their  cabins,  in  conscious  security. 
Here  was  a  man  who  was  afraid  to  sleep  in  his  own 
house  without  special  protection  from  the  venge 
ance  of  the  Almighty.  The  old  settlers  concluded 
that  nothing  but  a  consciousness  of  guilt  could 
account  for  such  timidity. 

Forquer  and  his  lightning  rod  were  talked  of  in 
every  settlement  from  the  Sangamon  to  the  Illinois 
and  Wabash. T 

1  Arnold,  Life  of  Lincoln. 


58  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

It  is  little  wonder  that  a  candidate  so  honest  in 
moral  conviction  and  courageous  in  its  assertion 
distanced  his  rivals  in  that  political  campaign  and 
won  the  election  to  the  Legislature  by  a  handsome 
majority.  Nor  is  it  surprising  that  during  his  in 
cumbency  of  that  office  he  approached  every  issue 
with  the  question,  "Is  it  right?" 

A  tremendous  struggle  to  secure  the  removal  of 
the  capital  of  the  State  from  Salem  to  Springfield 
arose  and  Lincoln  was  deeply  disturbed  by  efforts 
to  couple  with  that  movement  certain  measures  to 
which  he  was  unalterably  opposed.  In  the  midst 
of  the  contest,  a  caucus  was  called  for  the  purpose 
of  dissuading  Lincoln  from  his  determination  to 
oppose  the  capital  removal  measure  until  it  was 
dissociated  from  the  schemes  to  which  he  objected. 

Lincoln  stood  firm,  and  past  the  hour  of  mid 
night  rose  in  the  caucus  and  delivered  a  speech  of 
extraordinary  moral  earnestness  in  opposition  to 
the  movement  as  it  then  was.  These  were  his 
closing  words: 

You  may  burn  my  body  to  ashes  and  scatter  them 
to  the  winds  of  Heaven :  you  may  drag  my  soul  down 
to  the  regions  of  darkness  and  despair  to  be  tormented 
forever ;  but  you  will  never  get  me  to  support  a  meas 
ure  which  I  believe  to  be  wrong,  although  by  doing  so 
I  may  accomplish  that  which  I  believe  to  be  right. x 

1  Tarbell,  Life  of  Lincoln,  vol.  i.,  p.  139. 


COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION  59 

Thus,  as  each  occasion  offered,  Lincoln  made  his 
moral  attitude  increasingly  apparent,  striking  in 
this  instance  at  the  sophistry  that  "the  end  jus 
tifies  the  means,"  declaring  his  unwillingness  to 
support  a  measure  which  he  believed  to  be  right  by 
resorting  to  methods  which  he  knew  to  be  wrong. 
His  independence  was  natural,  the  inevitable 
trend  of  his  mind  impelled  by  moral  earnestness. 
Prone  to  take  counsel  with  his  associates,  he 
nevertheless  acted  upon  the  theory  that  he,  and  he 
alone,  was  responsible  for  what  he  did  and  was,  and 
that  he  was  responsible  to  God  alone.  His  pro 
fessional  confreres  early  observed  that  he  seldom,  if 
ever,  asked  advice  as  to  his  line  of  legal  conduct, 
although  there  were  among  his  friends  capable 
lawyers  who  would  gladly  have  aided  him.  He 
preferred  to  work  out  his  cases  with  his  own  judg 
ment  in  the  sight  of  God. 

His  self-reliance  built  on  God  was  still  more 
noticeable  when  later,  charged  with  high  public 
and  official  responsibilities,  he  had  to  deal  as 
President  with  the  strong  men  he  brought  into  his 
Cabinet.  Each  at  first  thought  himself  a  bigger 
man  than  Lincoln.  Seward  during  the  first  month 
offered,  superciliously,  to  run  the  Government. 
There  was  perhaps  not  one  but  naturally  expected 
to  be  a  little  king  in  his  own  department  without 


60  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

much  interference  from  the  crude  son  of  the 
western  prairies.  But  these  Eastern  statesmen- 
scholars  soon  had  their  eyes  opened  to  the  master 
ful  ability  of  the  Westerner.  Seward  led  the  way 
in  recognition  of  the  supremacy  of  Lincoln  in 
character  and  ability,  as  well  as  in  moral  and  re 
ligious  principles.  Stan  ton  was  a  little  gruff  unto 
the  end  but  he  knew  that  where  Lincoln  sat, 
there  was  the  head  of  the  table. 

The  practical  side  of  Lincoln's  religious  life  was 
illustrated  in  his  remark  to  Herndon  that  his  re 
ligious  code  was  like  that  of  an  old  man  back  in 
Indiana,  who  said:  "When  I  do  good,  I  feel  good; 
when  I  do  bad,  I  feel  bad,  and  that's  my  religion." 
Such,  also,  was  the  political  creed  which  he  wove 
into  his  platform  utterances  and  practised  all  his 
life.  His  outspoken,  but  not  obtrusive  inde 
pendence  in  religious  as  well  as  political  affairs, 
sometimes  caused  him  to  be  misunderstood  and 
subjected  him  to  the  charge  of  scepticism.  In  1842 
the  Washington  temperance  organization,  of  which 
Lincoln  was  a  member,  requested  him  to  deliver 
an  address  on  Washington's  birthday.  One  para 
graph  of  this  address,  which  was  delivered  in  a 
church,  offended  the  church  members  who  were 
present,  and,  as  reported  by  them,  aroused  the 
resentment  of  many  church  people  throughout  the 


COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION  61 

country.  Speaking  of  certain  Christians  who 
refused  to  associate  with  drunkards,  even  for  the 
purpose  of  reforming  them,  Lincoln  said : 

If  these  Christians  believe,  as  they  profess,  that 
Omniscience  descended  to  take  on  Himself  the  form  of 
a  sinful  man,  and  as  such  died  an  ignominious  death, 
surely  they  will  not  refuse  submission  to  the  infinitely 
less  condescension  for  the  temporal  and  perhaps 
eternal  salvation  of  a  large,  erring,  and  unfortunate 
class  of  their  fellow  creatures ;  nor  is  the  condescension 
very  great.  In  my  judgment,  such  of  us  as  have  never 
fallen  victims,  have  been  spared  more  from  the  ab 
sence  of  appetite  than  from  any  mental  or  moral 
superiority  over  those  who  have.  Indeed,  I  believe  if 
we  take  the  habitual  drunkard  as  a  class,  their  heads 
and  hearts  will  bear  an  advantageous  comparison  with 
those  of  any  other  class. 

The  active  temperance  propaganda,  then  in  its 
inception,  was  not  in  high  favour.  Professing 
Christians  of  good  church  and  social  standing  were 
not  averse  to  the  "social  glass."  Even  the  clergy 
were  far  from  being  "teetotalers."  A  young 
housewife  of  the  period  relates  that  when  the 
clergyman  made  his  pastoral  call,  she  would  have 
considered  it  a  breach  of  hospitality  not  to  mix 
up  "something  warm  for  him  to  drink."  In  the 
face  of  public  sentiment,  Lincoln  was  not  only  an 
abstainer  both  from  liquor  and  tobacco  but  pub- 


62  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

licly  advocated  the  cause  of  temperance.  His 
address,  therefore,  was  considered  radical  for  that 
time,  and  the  offended  church  members  affected  to 
regard  his  reference  to  the  condescension  of  Chris 
tian  people  as  a  reflection  upon  the  sincerity  of 
their  belief.  Those  who  felt  themselves  hit  re 
taliated  by  charging  him  with  skepticism;  and 
when,  a  few  years  later,  he  became  a  candidate  for 
Congress  against  the  noted  Methodist  "Circuit 
Rider,"  the  Rev.  Peter  Cartwright,  he  met  with 
strong  opposition  within  the  church. 

In  a  letter  written  in  March,  1843,  explaining 
his  defeat  by  Baker  for  the  congressional  nomina 
tion,  Lincoln  said: 

It  would  astonish,  if  not  amuse,  the  older  citizens 
to  learn  that  I,  a  stranger,  friendless,  uneducated, 
penniless  boy,  working  on  a  flat  boat  at  ten  dollars  a 
month,  have  been  put  down  here  as  a  candidate  for 
pride,  wealth,  and  aristocratic  family  distinction. 
There  was,  too,  the  strangest  combination  of  church 
influences  against  me.  Baker  is  a  Campbellite,  and, 
therefore,  as  I  suppose,  with  few  exceptions,  got  all 
that  church.  My  wife  has  some  relatives  in  the 
Presbyterian  churches  and  some  in  the  Episcopal 
churches,  and,  therefore,  wherever  it  would  tell,  I  was 
set  down  as  either  one  or  the  other,  while  it  was  every 
where  contended  that  no  Christian  ought  to  vote  for 
me  because  I  belonged  to  no  church,  was  suspected 
of  being  a  deist  and  had  talked  about  fighting  a  duel. 


COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION  63 

Lincoln,  in  the  days  of  his  omnivorous  reading, 
had  devoured  the  works  of  Tom  Paine,1  Voltaire, 
and  other  French  free-thinkers,  with  the  same 
avidity  with  which  he  devoured  Weems's  Life  of 
Washington  and  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana. 
He  was,  therefore,  charged  with  being  a  dis 
believer  in  God  and  in  the  religion  of  the  day. 

A  man  of  Lincoln's  intellectual  comprehensive 
ness  could  read  the  books  of  the  most  powerful 
skeptics  without  fear  that  his  faith  would  be  dis 
turbed  by  disbelief.  It  was  his  habit  to  look  on  all 
sides  of  all  questions.  Fearless  of  the  consequences, 
he  studied  the  views  of  the  so-called  infidel  writers 
as  he  studied  the  opposing  side  of  a  law  case.  His 
faith  in  God  was  so  firmly  imbedded  in  his  soul 
that  he  did  not  fear  its  unsettlement  even  by  the 
widest  reading. 

In  later  years  in  a  conversation  with  Dr.  Robert 
Browne,  who  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  shared  a  degree  of  his  confidence, 
which  was  given  to  few  men,  speaking  of  Paine's 
Age  of  Reason  he  said : 

I  have  looked  through  it  carelessly,  it  is  true;  but 
there  is  nothing  to  such  books.  God  rules  this  world, 
and  out  of  seeming  contradictions,  that  all  these  kind 
of.  reasoners  seem  unable  to  understand,  He  will  de- 

1  See  Moncure  D.  Con  way's  appreciation  of  Paine. 


64  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

velop  and  disclose  His  plans  for  men's  welfare  in  His 
inscrutable  way.  Not  all  of  Paine's  nor  all  the  French 
distempered  stuff  will  make  a  man  better,  but  worse. 
They  might  lay  down  tons  and  heaps  of  their  heart 
less  reasonings  along  side  a  few  of  Christ's  sayings  and 
parables,  to  find  that  He  said  more  for  the  benefit  of 
our  race  in  one  of  them  than  there  is  in  all  they  have 
written.  They  might  read  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
to  learn  that  there  is  more  of  justice,  righteousness, 
kindness,  and  mercy  in  it  than  in  the  minds  and  books 
of  all  the  ignorant  doubters  from  the  beginning  of 
human  knowledge. x 

It  is  well,  however,  to  note  that  the  charges  of 
infidelity,  skepticism,  and  deism,  were  launched  as 
"campaign  lies."  The  temperance  movement, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Washington  Society, 
assumed  a  quasi-political  aspect,  and  Lincoln's 
address  that  gave  offence  was  used  to  create  pre 
judice  against  him  in  the  hope  of  defeating  his 
political  aspirations.  The  charge,  during  the 
Baker-Lincoln  contest  that  he  was  a  deist  was 
absurd  precisely  as  the  charge  that  he  was  an  aris 
tocrat.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  his  affilia 
tion  with  the  temperance  movement  was  doing 
him  much  political  injury,  he  never  faltered  but 
continued  to  labour  zealously  in  its  behalf.  He 
spoke  often  in  Springfield  and  other  places,  dis 
playing  as  Herndon  writes,  "the  same  courage 

1  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Men  of  His  Time,  vol.  ii.,  p.  426. 


COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION  65 

and  adherence  to  principles  that  had  characterized 
his  every  undertaking."  Slowly,  surely,  his  moral 
courage  and  independence  won  for  him  enduring 
friends. 

New  Salem,  where  Lincoln  resided  as  a  young 
man,  was  known  as  a  ' ' fast ' '  place.  It  was  difficult 
there  for  a  young  man  of  ordinary  moral  courage 
to  resist  the  temptations  that  beset  him  on  every 
side.  It  was  considered  remarkable  in  the  com 
munity  that  Lincoln  retained  his  popularity  with 
the  young  men  of  his  own  age  while  refusing  to 
join  them  in  their  drinking  bouts  and  carouses. 
"I  am  certain, "  said  one  of  his  companions,  "that 
he  never  drank  any  intoxicating  liquors.  He  did 
not  even,  in  those  times,  smoke  or  chew." 

A  pertinent  example  of  the  strength  of  Lincoln's 
character  is  found  in  an  incident  that  occurred 
when  he  was  making  a  frugal  living  by  odd 
jobs  of  manual  labour  while  yet  pursuing  his  law 
studies.  One  of  his  friends  recommended  him  to 
John  Calhoun,  County  Surveyor,  for  the  post  of 
assistant.  Calhoun  was  a  Democrat  and  Lincoln 
a  Whig,  but  the  former,  for  personal  reasons, 
consented  to  make  the  appointment.  A  friend 
found  Lincoln  in  the  woods  splitting  rails  and  in 
formed  him  of  the  appointment.  Lincoln's  first 
inquiry  was  whether  he  would  sacrifice  any  prin- 


66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

ciple  or  lessen  his  independence  in  any  degree  by 
accepting  the  offer.  "  If  I  am  perfectly  free  in  my 
political  action,"  said  he,  "I  will  accept  the  ap 
pointment  ;  but  if  my  sentiments,  or  the  expression 
of  them,  are  to  be  abridged  in  any  way,  I  would  not 
have  it  or  any  other  place."  Though  the  appoint 
ment  would  have  hastened  the  realization  of  his 
ardent  ambition  to  become  a  lawyer  he  stood 
ready  to  reject  it,  if  it  laid  the  weight  of  a  straw 
upon  his  conscience.  Whether  the  inducement 
were  a  petty  Assistant  County  Surveyorship  or 
the  Presidency,  he  was  always  the  same  inde 
pendent,  God-fearing  man,  firm  in  his  faith  and 
therefore  resolute  to  do  his  duty  as  God  gave  him 
light  to  see  it. 

To  courage  was  added  a  sane  tolerance  as  re 
ligious  as  the  tolerance  of  Gamaliel  who  put  first 
the  will  of  God  in  the  consideration  of  all  ques 
tions.  Lincoln's  attitude  in  1844  in  respect  to  the 
"Know  Nothing"  party  is  noteworthy.  He  did 
not  believe  the  political  ostracism  of  foreign-born 
voters  and  Roman  Catholics  was  Christian.  The 
riot  and  bloodshed  to  which  it  led  in  several  of  the 
larger  cities  where  the  "Know  Nothing "  party  was 
strong  seemed  un-Christian.  When  the  movement 
threatened  to  sweep  the  country  and  place  the 
Proscriptionists  in  power,  Lincoln,  with  his  great 


COURAGE  MOUNTS  WITH  OCCASION  67 

heart  and  mighty  intellect,  sought  by  judicious 
means  to  check  the  panic  among  foreign-born 
citizens.  He  introduced  and  supported  a  resolu 
tion  in  a  meeting  at  Springfield  in  June  of  that 
year,  declaring  that,  ' '  the  guarantee  of  the  right  of 
conscience,  as  found  in  our  Constitution,  is  most 
sacred  and  inviolable,  and  one  that  belongs  no 
less  to  the  Catholic  than  to  the  Protestant,"  and 
that  "all  attempts  to  abridge  or  interfere  with 
these  rights,  either  of  Catholics  or  Protestants, 
directly  or  indirectly,  have  our  decided  dis 
approbation  and  shall  have  our  most  effective 
opposition."  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  cam 
paign  against  intolerance  and  disorder  which  he 
pursued  to  the  end  with  unabated  zeal.  Even  at 
the  last  Cabinet  meeting,  the  very  day  the  bullet 
took  his  life  away,  Lincoln — says  Mr.  Welles — 
"hoped  there  would  be  no  persecution,  no  bloody 
work,  after  the  war  was  over." 

Lincoln  lived  in  all  its  fulness   the   Christian 
faith  most  of  us  at  best  profess. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

LEADINGS   OF  PROVIDENCE 

LINCOLN  was  far  in  advance  of  his  day,  but  he 
was  content  to  await  God's  good  time — a  charac 
teristic  attitude  of  his  whole  life.  This  was  the 
measure  of  his  large  and  growing  faith,  the  secret 
of  his  almost  limitless  patience.  Believing  that, 
as  the  world  whirled  on  its  axis  and  the  spheres 
moved  in  their  appointed  orbits,  so  right  would 
find  its  proper  place  in  the  evolutions  in  the  moral 
universe.  He  was,  therefore,  content  to  wait,  no 
matter  how  dark  the  immediate  prospect  seemed. 

In  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1844,  in  which 
the  gallant,  magnetic,  and  much  beloved  Henry 
Clay  went  down  to  defeat,  Lincoln  filled  the  honour 
able  position  of  Presidential  elector  and  stumped 
the  state  for  his  party  ticket.  He  was  one  of 
Clay's  most  ardent  admirers  and  read  every 
printed  utterance  of  that  brilliant  statesman  who 
was  moulding,  in  no  small  measure,  the  mental  and 
political  type  of  the  Civil  War  President.  Mr. 
Lincoln,  in  taking  the  field  for  Henry  Clay,  knew 

68 


LEADINGS  OF  PROVIDENCE          69 

that  the  fight  was  not  for  that  time  alone  but  for 
all  time — and  that  many  a  battle  must  be  fought 
before  victory  would  at  last  be  won. 

Many  of  Clay's  supporters  were  deeply  de 
pressed  by  his  defeat  and  believed  that,  in  a  sense, 
the  battle  was  hopelessly  lost.  Some  interpreted 
his  defeat  as  conclusive  evidence  that  popular 
government  was  a  failure.  They  could  not  under 
stand  why  such  a  man  as  Henry  Clay,  so  emi 
nently  fitted  to  carry  on  the  great  work  for  better 
government,  should  have  been  set  aside.  Lincoln, 
too,  was  keenly  disappointed — the  more  so,  per 
haps,  because  Clay  was  of  his  own  native  State. 
But  he  did  not  lose  heart.  His  faith  in  the  ulti 
mate  triumph  of  the  right  was  unmoved  in  its 
serenity.  He  knew,  in  his  soul,  that — 

Truth,  crushed  to  earth,  will  rise  again, 
Th'  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers. 

Far  from  abandoning  the  struggle  for  the  suc 
cess  of  his  political  principles,  Lincoln  announced 
himself  a  candidate  for  the  Congressional  nomina 
tion  in  1846  to  succeed  Baker  who  had  been  elected 
on  the  Whig  ticket  in  the  year  of  Clay's  defeat. 
The  Democrats  placed  in  nomination  the  Rev. 
Peter  Cartwright.  This  was  the  campaign  in 
which  Lincoln  was  attacked  by  certain  church 


70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

influences.  Much  was  made  of  Lincoln's  religious 
beliefs — or  disbeliefs ;  but  the  effect  of  this  crusade 
upon  the  voters  of  the  district  in  which  Lincoln 
ran,  largely  made  up  of  church  members  and  at 
tendants,  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  Lincoln 
was  elected  by  a  majority  of  1511,  a  much  larger 
vote  than  Henry  Clay  received  in  the  same  dis 
trict  two  years  before.  This  victory  was  all  the 
more  signal  in  view  of  the  "Circuit  Rider's" 
church  following,  his  well-known  oratorical  ability, 
his  personal  magnetism  and  popularity,  and  his 
pronounced  adherence  to  the  principles  of  Andrew 
Jackson,  then  the  dominant  politico-religious 
social  power  of  the  commonwealth. 

Lincoln's  signal  triumph  over  Cartwright  was 
the  verdict  of  the  people,  who  knew  Lincoln  best, 
upon  the  charge  that  he  was  lacking  in  sound  re 
ligious  principles.  He  had  been  pitted  against 
a  pioneer  preacher  whose  reputation  was  nation 
wide — a  man  idealized,  if  not  idolized,  by  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  professed  Christians  of  the  day. 
Evidently,  they  were  capable  of  recognizing  the 
high  character  of  Lincoln,  even  if  not  garbed  in 
the  mantle  of  formal  church  membership. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  political  course  was  soon  to 
be  vindicated  by  the  election  of  Zachary  Taylor, 
the  Whig  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  The 


LEADINGS  OF  PROVIDENCE          71 

Whigs  had  denounced  the  Mexican  War  as  un 
necessary  and  unconstitutional.  Lincoln  had 
joined  in  this  denunciation.  In  this,  as  in  all 
issues,  he  was  outspoken,  having  always  the  cour 
age  of  his  convictions.  The  people  of  his  Con 
gressional  district  did  not  approve  his  attitude  on 
the  Mexican  War,  yet  such  was  their  confidence  in  his 
integrity  and  ability  that  they  chose  him  by  a  large 
majority  to  represent  them  in  the  halls  of  Congress. 

The  anti-slavery  forces  believed  that  back  of 
the  Mexican  War  stood  the  slave  power,  which 
sought  to  use  the  government  for  its  own  selfish 
ends.  They  also  contended  that  to  prosecute  the 
war  was  unjustifiable  aggression  against  a  friendly 
power.  At  the  same  time  they  knew  that  the 
war  was  popular  with  the  country  inasmuch  as  it 
promised  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  ac 
quisition  of  other  contiguous  territory — a  potent 
motive  in  every  country  since  history  began. 

The  prospect  of  additional  territory,  to  add  to 
the  grandeur  of  the  national  domain,  dazzled  the 
people  for  the  moment  and  rendered  unpopular 
those  who  opposed  it. 

Lincoln,  however,  strenuously  opposed  the  war 
both  by  voice  and  by  voting  for  the  resolutions 
against  it  offered  by  the  Whigs  in  Congress.  But 
after  the  war  became  inevitable  and  the  country 


72  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

was  fully  committed  to  it,  Lincoln's  patriotism  con 
strained  him  to  give  it  practical  support  by  voting 
as  a  member  of  the  Congress  for  all  needed  sup 
plies  to  carry  it  to  a  successful  issue  as  speedily  as 
possible.  He  had  satisfied  his  conscience  by  pro 
testing  against  the  war;  he  satisfied  his  patriotism 
by  supporting  measures  to  place  ample  men  and 
supplies  behind  the  flag  to  carry  it  to  final  and 
complete  victory. 

Zachary  Taylor,  too,  had  opposed  the  War  with 
Mexico;  but  when  the  country  was  swept  into  it 
he  proved  himself  one  of  the  heroes  of  that  conflict, 
manifesting  fiery  zeal  and  distinguished  courage 
from  the  time  hostilities  began  until  peace  was 
proclaimed.  As  Lincoln  himself  said  in  a  speech 
in  Congress:  "When  the  war  had  become  the 
cause  of  the  country,  the  Whigs  gave  their  money 
and  their  blood  for  its  prosecution." 

At  first,  many  of  Lincoln's  friends  were  dis 
couraged  by  his  opposition  to  the  Mexican  War. 
His  law  partner,  Herndon,  was  gloomy.  He 
wrote  Lincoln  that  he  had  made  a  mistake.  But 
Lincoln  held  to  his  convictions.  He  believed  that 
he  had  done  right,  and  in  his  magnificent  reliance 
on  the  right  as  the  safest  political  course  he  felt 
confident  that  he  and  his  political  associates 
would,  in  due  time,  be  vindicated. 


LEADINGS  OF  PROVIDENCE          73 

As  it  developed,  Providence  seemed  to  turn  the 
war  to  the  political  advantage  of  the  party  that 
had  protested  against  it  and  then  loyally  supported 
it  in  a  material  way  on  the  ground  of  patriotism. 
Their  nominee  for  President  had  distinguished 
himself  as  an  able  general  and  thus  made  himself 
popular  with  the  country.  A  few  days  after  the 
nomination  Lincoln  wrote,  predicting  the  election 
of  "Old  Rough  and  Ready."  "In  my  opinion," 
said  he,  "we  shall  have  a  most  overwhelming, 
glorious  triumph.  Taylor's  nomination  takes  the 
Locos  on  the  blind  side.  It  turns  the  war  thunder 
against  them.  The  war  is  now  to  them  the  gallows 
of  Haman,  which  they  built  for  us  and  on  which 
they  are  doomed  to  be  hanged  themselves." 

A  little  later,  in  reply  to  a  letter  warning  him 
that  his  own  district  was,  politically,  in  bad  con 
dition,  he  wrote  that  he  had  just  returned  from 
a  Whig  caucus,  held  in  relation  to  the  coming 
Presidential  Election.  "The  whole  field  of  the 
nation  was  scanned,"  he  said,  "and  all  is  high  hope 
and  confidence.  Illinois  is  expected  to  better  her 
condition  in  the  race."  He  ended  by  advising  his 
correspondent  to  keep  up  good  heart  and  to 
continue  energetic  in  the  work. 

The  prediction  of  disaster  to  his  party  in  his  own 
Congressional  district  was  nothing  to  him  in  com- 


74  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

parison  with  the  larger  triumph  which,  as  he 
believed,  was  coming  for  the  nation.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  although  Zachary  Taylor  was  elected  in 
1848,  the  Whig  candidate  for  Congress  in  Lincoln's 
district,  John  T.  Logan,  was  defeated.  Lincoln, 
instead  of  becoming  a  candidate  for  re-election, 
had  cheerfully  stepped  aside  in  favour  of  Logan, 
urging  that  Logan  was  the  stronger  because  he 
had  not  opposed  the  Mexican  War.  Lincoln 
himself  would  probably  have  been  elected  by 
reason  of  the  general  admiration  of  his  well-known 
courage  in  adhering  to  principle.  However,  self 
ishness  had  no  place  in  his  character.  He  was 
broad  enough  to  sacrifice  himself  for  the  sake  of 
the  higher  victory. 

Lincoln's  faith  was  not  a  mere  theory.  It  was 
a  productive  force.  He  relied  on  prayer  but  he 
did  not  believe  in  supinely  waiting  for  God  to 
answer.  He  prayed  as  if  everything  depended 
upon  God;  he  worked  as  if  everything  depended 
upon  himself.  His  faith  in  the  outcome  of  the 
fight  for  the  right  in  the  Presidential  contest  of 
1848  was  the  same  faith  he  exercised  when,  in  his 
prayer  for  victory  at  Gettysburg,  he  told  the 
Lord:  "I  have  done  all  I  can,  and  now  you  must 
help."  He  was  still  willing  to  wait  God's  own 
good  time,  but  he  wrought  with  all  his  might 


LEADINGS  OF  PROVIDENCE          75 

to  have  things  ready  when  God's  time  should 
come. 

Lincoln  had  now  become  a  national  figure  and 
was  being  considered  for  important  official  posi 
tions.  He  was  quasi-candidate  for  the  office  of 
Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  and  was 
also  offered  the  Governorship  of  the  Territory  of 
Oregon.  But  Providence  was  holding  him  for 
greater  responsibilities  when  the  appointed  mo 
ment  should  strike — the  moment  when  God  should 
have  need  of  him  to  meet  a  supreme  crisis. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  YEAR  OF  YEARS 

THE  year  1848  was  one  of  the  most  momentous 
in  history.  It  was  a  time  of  hope  and  fear, 
achievement  and  failure.  The  last  king  disap 
peared  from  France.  The  first  democratic  revo 
lution  occurred  in  Germany,  and  Rome  was 
captured  and  lost  by  Garibaldi.  Mexico  ceded 
California  to  the  United  States,  gold  was  dis 
covered,  and  the  rush  of  pioneers  to  the  Far  West 
began.  The  Whigs  nominated  Zachary  Taylor 
for  the  Presidency,  and  the  Free  Soil  Party  held 
a  significant  convention  in  Buffalo.  There  Van 
Bur  en  was  chosen  as  their  Presidential  candidate, 
with  the  slogan,  "No  more  slave  states  and  no 
more  slave  territory";  while  at  Pittsburgh  the 
cleavage  over  the  slave  question  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  resulted  in  the  organization 
of  the  Methodist  Church  South,  an  event  which 
thrust  religion  into  the  arena  of  party  politics. 

In  1848  Horace  Greeley,  the  acknowledged 
wielder  of  public  opinion  in  the  East,  took  his 

76 


THE  YEAR  OF  YEARS  77 

seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  spirit 
of  prophecy  was  moving  in  the  land,  and  the  flame 
of  religious  inspiration  began  to  flicker  on  the 
altar  of  liberty.  Capitol  Hill  had  witnessed  every 
manifestation  of  state  subsidy  and  political  sub 
terfuge,  legal  argument,  and  dialectical  parrying. 

In  the  Senate,  Daniel  Webster,  with  his  Roman 
mien  and  eagle  eye,  offset  the  Athenian  polish 
and  grand  manner  of  Henry  Clay.  Calhoun, 
with  his  trenchant  vehemence,  and  Benton,  with 
his  practical  realism,  passed,  or  were  passing,  from 
public  view.  One  gladiator  of  the  old  order  re 
mained:  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  master  of  invective, 
fluent,  bold,  magnetic,  popular.  With  his  pyro 
technic  wit,  he  was  already  measuring  swords  with 
honest  Abe,  yet  to  come  into  his  own.  From 
1848  to  1858  the  war  went  on  between  liberty 
and  bondage,  reason  and  rhetoric,  progress  and 
decadence. 

The  scene  of  action  now  shifted  from  the  Na 
tional  Capital  to  the  prairies  of  Illinois.  Prin 
ciples  opposed  opinions.  The  field  of  discussion 
narrowed.  A  clear  road  was  blazed  for  the  heralds 
of  justice. 

The  conflict  for  national  liberty,  begun  by 
Patrick  Henry,  gradually  changed  to  the  struggle 
for  individual  liberty,  and  for  the  first  time  in 


78  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OP  GOD 

America  real  seership  began  to  exercise  a  far  reach 
ing  influence  in  affairs  of  State  and  Nation.  From 
1776  to  1848  eloquence,  persuasion,  wit,  imagina 
tion,  legal  manoeuvre,  magnetic  personality,  charm 
of  manner,  social  prestige  had  attracted  public 
attention,  swayed  parties,  and  moulded  opinion. 
Webster  influenced  by  the  splendour  of  his  elo 
quence*  Clay  by  his  lucid  diction,  Baker  by  his 
extemporaneous  outbursts,  Wendell  Phillips  by 
his  relentless  arguments,  Owen  Lovejoy  by  his 
impassioned  denunciations,  Sumner  by  his  scholar 
ship,  Seward  by  his  cool  logic,  Ben  Wade  by  his 
fearless  defiance. 

Every  phase  of  sentiment,  every  shade  of  opin 
ion,  every  species  of  argument,  had  been  forged  on 
the  anvil  of  sectional  interest;  but  until  then  in 
the  white  heat,  the  hammers  of  discussion  never 
struck  more  than  detached  sparks  from  the  hard 
iron  of  party  politics. 

The  Damascus  sword  of  justice,  tempered  by 
mercy,  was  yet  unfused  and  unformed. 

At  the  Washington  capital  the  book  of  the  old 
order  was  closing,  while  in  the  Far  West  a  pro 
phetic  scroll  was  unrolling  as  yet  inscrutable  to  all, 
save  to  the  gaunt,  grim  man  of  the  prairies.  Lin 
coln,  humblest  and  lowliest  of  all  in  that  great 
conflict,  was  destined  for  the  highest  position  in  the 


THE  YEAR  OF  YEARS  79 

nation  and  an  immortality  of  fame  crowned  by  a 
holy  martyrdom.  Many  others  had  discussed  the 
political  situation  from  the  rostrum  and  explained 
conditions  from  the  pulpit.  Sincere  and  eloquent, 
they  halted  on  the  threshold,  stumbled  over  the 
question  of  ways  and  means,  hesitated  in  the  face 
of  essentials,  dissipated  vital  force  in  vain  and 
futile  arguments. 

The  hour  had  struck  for  a  shuffling  of  the  dry 
bones  of  democracy.  Once  for  all,  the  least  and 
humblest  of  those  engaged  in  the  great  conflict  was 
to  dispel  the  illusion  that  knowledge  is  confined  to 
books,  wisdom  to  schools,  and  power  to  patronage. 
Once  for  all,  he  was  to  prove  the  reality  of  mystical 
intuitions  and  spiritual  illumination.  Once  for  all, 
he  was  to  demonstrate  the  efficiency  of  spiritual 
faith  in  fundamental  affairs,  the  power  of  prayer, 
and  the  reign  of  the  Eternal. 

In  the  face  of  a  thousand  difficulties  and  in 
numerable  enemies,  his  thought  was  growing 
more  spiritual.  His  life  and  deeds  were  becoming 
a  living  proof  of  the  shallowness  of  agnosticism 
and  the  folly  of  materialism  in  their  constant  ex 
emplification  of  the  transcendent  power  of  the 
spiritual  in  solving  one  of  the  greatest  problems 
that  ever  yet  confronted  mortal  man. 

Increasingly  his  words  and  deeds  were  standing 


8o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

forth  as  living  symbols  of  the  truth  that  right 
makes  might  and  that  justice  will  triumph  finally 
over  all  phases  and  manifestations  of  tyranny. 

While  in  1848  the  spirit  of  individual  progress 
was  suppressed  in  Germany,  in  America  it  was 
just  beginning  its  victorious  march  towards  free 
dom.  The  failure  of  democracy  in  the  Teuton 
countries  cleared  the  way  for  Bismarck,  the  de 
velopment  of  materialism,  and  the  temporary 
triumph  of  one  of  the  most  drastic  forms  of 
autocracy  civilization  has  ever  known.  Without 
the  transcendent  words  of  Lincoln,  without  his 
supreme  achievements,  where  today  would  the 
political  world  look  for  the  example  that  abides, 
the  spirit  that  illumines?  The  Kaiser  invoked 
the  God  of  rapine.  Lincoln  invoked  the  God  of 
justice  and  mercy.  History  has  never  offered 
such  an  antithesis  of  darkness  and  illumination, 
military  pandemonium  and  social  progress.  The 
torch  which  was  extinguished  in  Germany  in 
1848  was  rekindled  in  America.  Religion,  in  its 
broad  sense,  was  from  this  time  on,  to  impose  a 
bond  of  progressive  discipline  where  license  before 
had  ruled.  In  spite  of  the  division  over  slavery 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  and  other  Protestant 
churches,  in  spite  of  sectional  bitterness  and  op 
position,  there  would  now  be  one  head  and  one 


THE  YEAR  OF  YEARS  81 

heart,  one  will,  and  one  conscience,  one  torch  and 
one  illumination. 

To  enumerate  all  the  events  and  developments 
of  1848  would  require  a  volume.  Some  of  the 
writers  who  have  dealt  with  the  life  of  Lincoln  have 
either  wilfully  or  unconsciously  ignored  their 
mystical  import  and  religious  tendency.  They 
have  marshalled  those  transcendent  events  and 
occurrences  without  noting  "the  Divine  Idea" 
underlying  them  and  throbbing  through  them. 
The  stages  of  spiritual  progress  in  the  mind  of 
Lincoln  were  as  marked  as  sign  posts  separating 
one  country  from  another.  In  his  mental  economy 
there  was  no  place  for  guesswork,  no  time  for 
doing  and  undoing,  no  opportunity  for  mere  ex 
perimenting,  and  never  in  the  life  of  any  man  were 
periods  of  mental  and  moral  progress  more  pre 
cisely  and  mathematically  marked  on  the  highway 
of  time. 

Long  before  1848  Lincoln's  purpose  was  fixed, 
but  it  was  not  till  after  1848  that  he  seemed  to 
come  to  the  full  realization  of  the  social  and  re 
ligious  as  well  as  the  political  import  of  events. 
Lincoln  did  not  base  his  faith  on  any  power  in 
nature,  nor  on  the  counsel  of  individuals  or  parties 
when  they  conflicted  with  his  honest  convictions. 
He  stood  alone — proof  of  his  absolute  trust  in  a 


82  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe.  Other  gifted  and 
successful  leaders  can  be  described  as  "practical, 
common-sense  men."  Lincoln  was  so  far  unlike 
all  "common-sense  men"  that  what  he  said  and 
what  he  did  had  no  parallel  in  the  records  of  any 
leader.  Behind  the  matter-of-fact,  he  was  sus 
tained  by  an  unfaltering  trust,  clearly  revealed  to 
intuition,  yet  beyond  all  definitions  the  matter- 
of-fact  and  obvious  can  give. 

Now,  from  this  year  of  change  and  innovation 
the  movement  toward  the  great  consummation 
proceeded  without  interruption.  Midway  be 
tween  that  transition  year  of  1848  and  the  climac 
teric  year  of  1858  the  Republican  Party  was  born. 
Under  the  blue  dome  of  heaven,  on  the  prairies 
of  Illinois,  this  pioneer  of  individual  liberty,  this 
prophet  of  human  progress,  this  man  of  God 
entered  upon  the  second  period  of  his  God 
ordained  mission. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  GIANT  WAKES 

FOR  three  or  four  years  Lincoln  was  engrossed 
in  his  profession  to  the  practical  exclusion  of  poli 
tics.  But  in  May,  1854,  he  was  aroused  by  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  This  act 
was  to  him  a  call  to  arms.  One  of  his  biographers 
declares:  ''He  was  aroused  as  he  had  never  been 
before  in  all  his  life. "  He  again  entered  the  arena, 
and,  in  accepting  invitations  to  make  addresses, 
he  stipulated  in  every  case  that  he  should  talk 
against  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill.  He  came  back 
into  politics  with  an  earnestness  and  zeal  that  sur 
prised  even  his  friends,  for  he  was  afire  with  the 
great  moral  issue  which  had  been  raised. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  author  of  the  bill 
repealing  the  Missouri  Compromise,  was  then  a 
commanding  figure  in  the  politics  of  Illinois.  By 
common  consent  Lincoln  was  instinctively  selected 
by  the  opponents  of  the  obnoxious  measure  as  the 
man  best  equipped  to  meet  and  combat  Douglas. 
When  Douglas  came  to  Springfield  to  speak  at  the 

83 


84  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

annual  State  Fair  it  was  announced  that  Lincoln 
would  answer  him  the  next  day.  Lincoln's  speech 
was  a  revelation.  The  Springfield  Journal  said 
of  it: 

It  was  the  profoundest  that  he  has  made  in  his 
whole  life.  Lincoln  felt  upon  his  soul  the  truths  burn 
which  he  uttered,  and  all  present  felt  that  he  was  true 
to  his  own  soul.  His  feelings  once  or  twice  came  near 
stifling  his  utterances.  He  quivered  with  emotion. 
The  whole  house  was  as  still  as  death. 

This  was  Lincoln  at  last  aroused  by  a  great  moral 
issue  to  the  fulness  of  his  powers.  Before,  he  had 
been  a  political  orator  of  a  superior  type;  now  he 
was  as  an  inspired  prophet.  The  whole  man 
seemed  uplifted  and  transformed.  Miss  Tarbell 
says: 

He  discussed  the  subject  incessantly  with  his  friends 
as  he  travelled  the  circuit.  A  new  conviction  was 
gradually  growing  upon  him.  He  had  long  held 
that  slavery  was  wrong;  but  that  it  could  not  be 
touched  in  the  States  where  it  was  recognized  by  the 
Consitution.  All  that  the  Free  States  could  require, 
in  his  judgment,  was  that  no  new  territory  should  be 
opened  to  slavery.  He  held  that  all  compromises 
adjusting  difficulties  between  the  North  and  the  South 
on  the  slavery  question  were  as  sacred  as  the  Con 
stitution.  Now  he  saw  the  most  important  of  them 
all  violated.  Was  it  possible  to  devise  a  compromise 


THE  GIANT  WAKES  85 

that  would  settle  forever  the  conflicting  interests? 
He  turned  over  the  question  continually. 

Judge  T.  Lyle  Dickey  tells  the  following  story: 
When  the  excitement  over  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
bill  first  broke  out,  he  was,  with  Lincoln  and  some 
friends,  attending  court.  One  evening  several 
persons,  including  himself  and  Lincoln,  were  dis 
cussing  the  slavery  question.  Judge  Dickey  con 
tended  that  slavery  was  an  institution  which  the 
Constitution  recognized  and  which  could  not  be 
disturbed.  Lincoln  argued  that  slavery  must 
ultimately  become  extinct. 

After  awhile  [says  Judge  Dickey]  we  went  upstairs 
to  bed.  There  were  two  beds  in  our  room,  and  I 
remember  that  Lincoln  sat  up  in  his  nightshirt,  on 
the  edge  of  the  bed,  arguing  the  point  with  me.  At 
last  we  went  to  sleep.  Early  in  the  morning  I  woke 
up,  and  there  was  Lincoln,  half  sitting  up  in  bed. 
"Dickey,"  he  said,  "I  tell  you,  this  nation  cannot 
exist,  half  slave  and  half  free. " 

This  idea  had  taken  full  possession  of  Lincoln. 
It  shaped  all  his  future  course.  Like  a  vision  in 
the  night  it  came  to  him.  He  grasped  it,  and 
made  it  a  reality.  As  time  went  on  the  idea  struck 
its  roots  deeper.  Its  full  implication  grew  clearer 
to  him.  He  saw  with  a  vividness  no  one  else 
could  match  that  the  extinction  of  slavery  was 


86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

bound  up  with  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and 
yet  he  set  the  Union  first  in  order  of  responsibility. 
What  could  be  more  compelling  than  these  words 
spoken  when  the  crisis  came : 

In  seeking  to  attain  these  results  so  indispensable 
if  the  liberty  which  is  our  pride  and  boast  is  to  endure, 
we  will  be  loyal  to  the  Constitution  and  the  flag  of  our 
Union,  and  no  matter  what  our  grievance,  even  though 
Kansas  shall  come  in  as  a  slave  State,  and  no  matter 
what  theirs,  even  if  we  shall  restore  the  Compromise, 
we  will  say  to  the  Southern  dis-Unionists,  "We  won't 
go  out  of  the  Union  and  you  shan't!" 

While  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
had  called  Lincoln  from  his  office  like  a  lion  from 
his  den,  there  seems  never  to  have  been  a  time 
when  he  was  not  opposed  to  it  as  a  moral  issue. 
His  first  recorded  opposition,  after  he  entered 
upon  public  life,  was  early  in  his  legislative  career, 
when  he  joined  with  one  other  member  of  the 
State  Assembly  in  a  protest  against  the  pro- 
slavery  resolution  which  had  been  adopted  by 
that  legislative  body.  While  the  protest  was  not 
radical,  its  significance  was  in  the  declaration  that 
"the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded  both  on 
injustice  and  bad  policy." 

Nicolay  and  Hay,  in  their  biography  say:  "It 
may  seem  strange  that  a  protest  so  mild  and  cau- 


THE  GIANT  WAKES  87 

tious  should  have  been  considered  either  necessary 
or  remarkable."  However,  it  should  be  remem 
bered  that  we  have  travelled  far  beyond  the 
thought  and  feeling  of  those  times.  If  we  look 
carefully  into  the  state  of  politics  and  public  opin 
ion  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  we 
shall  see  much  of  inflexible  conscience  and  sound 
reasoning  in  a  protest  so  simple. 

The  whole  of  the  North-west  Territory  had  been 
dedicated  to  freedom  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787; 
and  yet  slavery  existed  in  a  modified  form  through 
out  that  vast  region  wherever  there  was  any  con 
siderable  population.  An  act,  legalizing  a  sort  of 
slavery  by  indenture  was  passed  by  the  Indiana 
Territorial  Legislature  in  1807,  and  remained  in 
force  in  the  Illinois  country  after  it  became  a 
separate  territory.  Furthermore,  an  act  providing 
for  the  hiring  of  slaves  from  slave  States  was  en 
acted  in  1814  for  the  ostensible  reason  that  "mills 
could  not  successfully  be  operated  in  the  territory 
for  the  want  of  labourers  and  that  the  manufac 
ture  of  salt  could  not  be  successfully  carried  on  by 
the  white  labourers."  Coincident  with  such  legis 
lation  the  most  savage  acts  were  passed,  from  time 
to  time,  prohibiting  the  immigration  of  free  negroes, 
though  the  territory  was  represented  as  pining  for 
black  labour. 


88  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

In  addition  those  who  had  held  slaves  under  the 
French  domination  continued  to  hold  them  and 
their  descendants  in  servitude  even  after  Illinois  had 
become  first  a  free  territory  and  then  a  free  state. 
The  advocates  of  slavery  argued  speciously  that  the 
vested  property  rights  of  such  slaveholders  could 
not  have  been  abrogated  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 

But  this  quasi- toleration  of  slavery  was  not 
enough  for  the  slave  system.  The  long  arm  of  the 
oppressor  was  stretched  out  to  take  fast  hold  upon 
that  territory  of  the  Union  which  had  not  as  yet 
been  smirched  by  slavery's  loathsome  touch.  It 
was  not  by  open,  frank  advocacy  that  the  pro- 
slavery  power  sought  to  extend  its  domain,  but 
by  all  the  arts  of  false  logic,  by  the  appeal  to  the 
doctrine  of  vested  rights,  and  by  a  course  of 
tortuous  political  intrigue. 

And  what  of  the  opposition  to  slavery  in  the 
North  ?  The  record  shows  that,  for  the  most  part, 
it  operated  by  the  same  system  of  sophistry  and 
evasion,  by  avoiding  that  openness  and  frankness, 
which  alone  could  have  startled  the  conscience  of 
the  nation  into  a  realization  of  its  duty.  In  the 
North,  fully  as  much  as  in  the  South,  the  doctrine 
of  dollars,  as  opposed  to  human  rights,  was,  al 
most  equally  with  the  South,  the  guiding  principle 
of  all  political  and  economic  consideration. 


THE  GIANT  WAKES  89 

Soon  after  the  adoption  of  the  state  Constitu 
tion  of  Illinois  which  prohibited  the  holding  of 
slaves  "hereafter,"  there  appeared  to  be  a  strong 
undercurrent  favourable  to  the  introduction  of 
slavery  into  the  State.  Some  of  the  leading  poli 
ticians,  looking  to  their  own  personal  advance 
ment,  began  to  agitate  the  question  of  amending 
the  Constitution  so  as  to  permit  the  enslavement 
of  the  negroes. 

Another  condition  tended  to  sow  the  noxious 
seed  of  slavery  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  A 
strong  tide  of  immigration  into  Illinois  was  setting 
in  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri.  As 
these  movers  passed  through  the  Illinois  settle 
ments  they  deplored  the  "short-sighted"  policy 
which  had  led  to  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in 
Illinois,  and  prevented  these  same  settlers  from 
remaining  in  that  beautiful  country.  They  sought 
to  impress  upon  the  people  of  Illinois  a  sense  of 
inferiority  to  slave  owners.  In  1829  Governor 
Edwards  complained  that  the  people  of  Missouri 
were  given  better  mail  facilities,  presumably  be 
cause  they  were  regarded  by  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  as  "gentlefolk,  having  negroes  to  work  for 
them,"  and,  therefore,  entitled  to  higher  considera 
tion  than  "us  plain,  Free  State  folks,  who  have 
to  work  for  ourselves. " 


90  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

An  attempt  was  made  in  the  Legislature  of 
1822-23  to  open  the  State  to  slavery.  By  gross 
manipulation  the  pro-slavery  forces  passed  an  act 
providing  for  a  convention  to  amend  the  Con 
stitution,  but  the  act  had  to  be  submitted  to  a 
popular  vote  and  was  decisively  defeated  by  the 
people. 

Yet  the  advocates  of  slavery  did  not  desist. 
They  sought  in  every  manner  and  by  every  device 
to  array  public  opinion  and  the  social  forces  against 
what  they  stigmatized  as  "Abolitionism,"  and 
to  visit  with  political  and  social  ostracism  the 
opponents  of  the  pro-slavery  agitation. 

The  harsh  code  directed  against  the  immigra 
tion  of  free  negroes  remained  in  force.  The  feel 
ing  was  much  stronger  in  central  than  in  northern 
Illinois,  and  still  more  powerful  in  the  southern 
section  of  the  State.  The  northern  region  had 
been  settled  largely  from  New  England.  But  the 
settlers  of  the  lower  counties  had  come  across  the 
line  from  the  border  states  where  slavery  was  inter 
woven  into  the  very  warp  and  woof  of  the  social 
and  industrial  fabric,  and  where,  politically,  it 
was  the  all-dominating  power,  adherence  to  which 
was  the  sine  qua  non  of  official  preferment.  How 
ruthless  was  the  pro-slavery  propaganda  was 
shown  by  repeated  acts  of  mob  violence  against  the 


THE  GIANT  WAKES  91 

advocates  of  abolition  because  they  stood  for  mak 
ing  the  Declaration  of  Independence  what,  it  pro 
fessed  to  be — the  true  creed  of  democracy.  By 
this,  and  other  acts  of  violence,  those  who  would 
have  fastened  the  blighting  slavery  system  upon 
the  State  of  Illinois  sought  to  intimidate  their 
opponents.  x 

The  resolution,  against  which  Lincoln  pro 
tested  in  the  Legislature,  denounced  the  anti- 
slavery  pronouncements  of  several  Northern  state 
legislatures,  and  declared:  "The  right  by  the 
Federal  Constitution."  The  resolutions  in  the 
Illinois  Legislature  passed  the  Senate  unanimously 
and  went  through  the  House  by  an  overwhelming 
vote. 

There  was  no  reason  [say  his  biographers],  why 
Lincoln  should  have  taken  note  of  these  resolutions, 
more  than  another.  He  had  only  to  shrug  his  shoul 
ders  at  the  violence  and  untruthfulness  of  the  ma 
jority,  then  vote  against  them,  and  go  home  to  his 
constituents  in  the  flush  of  his  success  in  procuring  the 
removal  of  the  State  Capital  to  Springfield.  But  his 
conscience  and  his  reason  forbade  him  from  remain 
ing  silent.  He  felt  that  a  word  must  be  said  on 
the  other  side,  to  redress  the  distorted  balance.  He 
wrote  his  protest  and  showed  it  to  his  colleagues.  But 
none  of  them  dared  to  sign  it,  excepting  Dan  Stone, 
who  was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election,  having  retired 

1  See  Appendix.     The  First  Martyr. 


92  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

from  politics  to  a  seat  on  the  bench.  All  the  others 
considered  the  risk  of  angering  the  pro-slavery  senti 
ment  too  great. 

This  incident  supplies  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  method  of  Lincoln  through  his  whole  public 
life.  He  never  could  be  hurried.  He  could  be 
patient  beyond  the  understanding  of  impetuous 
men.  He  could  wait  patiently  even  a  large  frac 
tion  of  a  century  until  the  proper  time  arrived  to 
strike.  Later,  when  the  smoke  and  the  turmoil 
of  the  Civil  War  surged  round  him,  assailed  by 
a  storm  of  bitter  criticism,  anathematized  by  the 
ultra-radicals  for  not  signing  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  he  waited  even  then  for  the  moment 
when  he  felt  it  was  God's  time  for  him  to  act. 

Likewise  when  the  Legislature  of  his  State  placed 
itself  on  the  side  of  oppression,  Lincoln  knew  it  was 
no  time  for  patience  and  therefore  penned  his 
protest  in  defiance  of  the  powerful  and  dominant 
slavery  element  of  his  own  State.  This  protest 
was  made  when  he  was  only  twenty-eight  years 
old.  He  arrived  at  a  considerable  position  in  the 
politics  and  society  of  the  State  after  a  score  and 
more  years  of  singular  privation  and  struggle. 
Was  he  to  sacrifice  everything  now  by  a  Quixotic 
defiance  of  public  opinion?  The  people  of  his 
own  county  and  his  most  intimate  friends  were 


THE  GIANT  WAKES  93 

strongly  averse  to  any  public  discussion  of  slavery. 
But  nothing  could  restrain  him  from  performing 
what  he  regarded  as  a  simple  duty.  He  took  his 
political  life  in  his  hands  rather  than  remain  silent 
in  the  presence  of  a  great  wrong.  The  words  of 
Nicolay  and  Hay,  with  which  they  conclude  their 
detailed  narrative  of  this  incident,  do  not 
exaggerate  its  importance : 

The  young  man  who  dared  declare,  in  the  pros 
perous  beginning  of  his  political  life,  in  the  midst  of  a 
community  imbued  with  Slave  State  superstitions, 
that  he  believed  the  institution  of  slavery  founded 
both  on  injustice  and  bad  policy,  attacking  thus  its 
moral  and  material  support,  while  at  the  same  time 
recognizing  all  the  Constitutional  guarantee  which 
protected  it,  had  in  him  the  making  of  a  statesman, 
and,  if  need  be,  a  martyr.  His  whole  career  was  to 
run  in  the  lines  marked  out  by  these  words,  written 
in  the  hurry  of  a  closing  session,  and  he  was  to  accom 
plish  few  acts  in  that  great  history  which  God 
reserved  for  him,  wiser  and  nobler  than  this. 

God  works  through  fitting  instruments.  God 
may  inspire  a  weak  man,  but  He  seldom  does. 
Great  prophets  and  leaders  have  been  men  of 
strength.  The  Almighty  seems  to  want  something 
substantial  for  the  foundation  of  a  great  achieve 
ment.  In  choosing  Lincoln  to  smite  slavery  he 
added  simple  goodness  to  resistless  strength. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   SHADOW   OF   A  MIGHTY  ROCK 

REARED  in  the  solitude  of  the  wilderness  the  soul 
of  Lincoln  was  sensitive,  his  spirit  reverent.  He  saw 
more  than  so  many  cubic  feet  of  hardness  in  the 
rock  beneath  his  feet;  more  than  the  cold  law  of 
gravitation  maintaining  the  equilibrium  of  worlds, 
more  than  fire  mist  in  the  dawn  of  creation ;  more 
than  protoplasm  as  the  source  of  life;  more  than 
an  abstract  God  devoid  of  attributes,  who,  hav 
ing  started  a  course  of  evolution  from  gas  to 
genius,  is  an  absentee  in  the  affairs  of  the  world. 
He  saw  sermons  in  trees,  books  in  running  brooks, 
and  good,  which  is  but  another  name  for  God,  in 
everything. 

He  was  never  deaf  to  the  call  of  the  Divine. 
Captain  Gilbert  J.  Green,  who  was  closely  asso 
ciated  with  Lincoln  in  early  life,  gives  a  striking 
illustration  of  Lincoln's  appreciation  of  nature's 
evidence  of  God's  existence  in  the  words: 

When  I  was  a  boy  about  nineteen,  one  night  Lin 
coln  said  to  me,  calling  me  by  my  first  name  "Gilbert, 

94 


THE  SHADOW  OF  A  MIGHTY  ROCK  95 

you  have  to  stand  at  your  printer's  case  all  day  and  I 
have  to  sit  in  the  office  all  day.  Let  us  take  a  walk." 
As  we  walked  on  the  country  road  outside  of  Spring 
field,  he  turned  his  eyes  toward  the  stars  and  told  me 
their  names  and  their  distance  from  us  and  the  swift 
ness  of  their  motion.  He  said  the  ancients  used  to 
arrange  them  so  as  to  make  monsters,  serpents,  ani 
mals  of  one  kind  or  another  out  of  them.  "  But,"  said 
he,  "  I  never  behold  them  that  I  do  not  feel  that  I  am 
looking  in  the  face  of  God.  I  can  see  how  it  might  be 
possible  for  a  man  to  look  down  upon  the  earth  and  be 
an  atheist,  but  I  cannot  see  how  he  could  look  up  into 
the  heavens  and  say  there  is  no  God."  The  informa 
tion  and  inspiration  received  that  night  during  the 
walk  I  shall  never  forget. r 

In  September,  1848,  when  returning  from  a 
campaign  tour  in  New  England  he  visited  Niagara 
Falls.  After  his  death  there  were  found  among 
his  papers  some  notes  taken  evidently  to  serve  in 
preparation  for  a  lecture  which  showed  how  deeply 
his  mind  was  stirred  by  this  mighty  phenomenon 
of  nature. 

Niagara  Falls!  [he  wrote]  By  what  mysterious 
power  is  it  that  millions  and  millions  are  drawn  from 
all  parts  of  the  earth  to  gaze  upon  Niagara  Falls? 
There  is  no  mystery  about  the  thing  itself.  Every 
effect  is  just  as  any  intelligent  man,  knowing  the 
causes,  would  anticipate  without  seeing  it.  If  the 
water  moving  onward  in  a  great  river  reaches  a  point 

1  Chapman,  Latest  Light  on  Abraham  Lincoln,  p.  524. 


96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

where  there  is  a  perpendicular  jog  of  one  hundred  feet 
in  descent  to  the  bottom  of  the  river,  it  is  plain  that 
the  water  will  have  a  violent  and  continuous  plunge 
at  that  point.  It  is  also  plain  that  the  water  thus 
plunging  will  foam  and  roar  and  send  up  a  mist  con 
tinually  in  which,  during  sunshine,  there  will  be  per 
petual  rainbows.  The  mere  physical  aspect  of 
Niagara  Falls  is  only  this.  Yet  this  is  really  a  very 
small  part  of  the  world's  wonder.  Its  power  to  excite 
emotion  and  reflection  is  its  great  charm.  The  geolo 
gist  will  demonstrate  that  the  plunge,  or  fall,  was  once 
at  Lake  Ontario,  and  has  worn  its  way  back  to  its 
present  position.  He  will  ascertain  how  fast  it  is 
wearing  now,  and  so  get  a  base  for  determining  how 
long  it  has  been  wearing  back  from  Lake  Ontario,  and 
finally  demonstrate  from  it  that  this  world  is  at  least 
fifteen  thousand  years  old.  A  philosopher  of  slightly 
different  turn  will  say,  "Niagara  Falls  is  only  the Hp  of 
a  basin,  out  of  which  pours  all  the  surplus  water  which 
rains  down  on  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  square 
miles  of  the  earth's  surface."  He  will  estimate,  with 
approximate  accuracy,  that  five  hundred  thousand 
tons  of  water  fall  with  their  full  weight  a  distance  of  a 
hundred  feet  each  minute,  thus  exerting  a  force  equal 
to  the  lifting  of  the  same  weight  through  the  same 
space,  in  the  same  time.  But  still  there  is  more.  It 
calls  up  the  indefinite  past,  when  Columbus  first 
sighted  this  continent,  when  Christ  suffered  on  the 
cross,  when  Moses  led  Israel  through  the  Red  Sea, 
nay,  even  when  Adam  first  came  from  the  hand  of  his 
Maker;  then,  as  now,  Niagara  was  roaring  here.  The 
eyes  of  that  species  of  extinct  giants  whose  bones  fill 
the  mounds  of  America,  have  gazed  on  Niagara  as 
ours  do.  Contemporary  with  the  first  race  of  men 


THE  SHADOW  OF  A  MIGHTY  ROCK  97 

and  older  than  the  first  man,  Niagara  is  strong  and 
fresh  today  as  ten  thousand  years  ago.  The  mammoth 
and  mastodon,  so  long  dead  that  fragments  of  their 
monstrous  bones  alone  testify  that  they  ever  lived, 
have  gazed  on  Niagara,  that  in  that  long,  long,  time, 
never  still  for  a  moment,  never  dried,  never  frozen, 
never  slept,  never  rested. 


His  reflections  on  Niagara  embraced  the  whole 
subject  of  creation,  the  existence  of  God,  the  mys 
tery  and  power  of  the  universe,  the  history,  redemp 
tion,  and  fate  of  man.  The  question  to  Job :  * '  Where 
wast  thouwhen  I  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth  ? " 
seems  to  have  been  present  to  Lincoln's  mind 
when  he  wrote  of  Niagara  as  calling  up  the  "in 
definite  past."  The  whole  fragment  is  the  ex 
pression  of  a  soul  profoundly  imbued  with  the 
spiritual  theory  of  the  origin  and  cause  of  things. 
The  Eternal  Power  which  moves  and  constantly 
renews  Niagara,  and  has  done  so  centuries  beyond 
human  conception,  was  to  Lincoln  a  sublime 
thought — one  that  stirred  his  whole  being  and 
gave  him  an  outlook  far  beyond  the  mere  physical 
expression  of  this,  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  world's 
wonders. 

From  this  recognition  of  God  in  nature  it  re 
quires  but  a  step  to  a  realization  of  the  divine 
in  the  affairs  of  men.  That  Lincoln  accepted  this 


98  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

doctrine  Mr.  F.  E.  Chittenden,  who  was  register 
of  the  Treasury  under  President  Lincoln,  confirms 
in  his  Recollections:  "Lincoln's  calm  serenity,"  he 
says,  "at  times  when  others  were  so  anxious,  his 
confidence  that  his  own  judgment  was  directed  by 
the  Almighty,  so  impressed  me  that  I  ventured  to 
ask  him  directly  how  far  he  believed  the  Almighty 
actually  directed  our  national  affairs.  After  a 
considerable  pause,  he  spoke  as  follows : 

"That  the  Almighty  does  make  use  of  human  agen 
cies,  and  directly  intervenes  in  human  affairs,  is  one 
of  the  plainest  statements  in  the  Bible.  I  have  had 
so  many  evidences  of  His  direction,  so  many  instances 
when  I  have  been  controlled  by  some  other  power 
than  my  own  will,  that  I  cannot  doubt  that  this  power 
comes  from  above.  I  frequently  see  my  way  clear 
to  a  decision  when  I  am  conscious  that  I  have  not 
sufficient  facts  upon  which  to  found  it.  But  I  cannot 
recall  one  instance  in  which  I  have  followed  my  own 
judgment,  founded  upon  such  a  decision,  where  the 
results  were  unsatisfactory;  whereas,  in  almost  every 
instance  where  I  have  yielded  to  the  views  of  others, 
I  have  had  occasion  to  regret  it.  I  am  satisfied  that, 
when  the  Almighty  wants  me  to  do,  or  not  to  do,  a 
particular  thing,  he  finds  a  way  of  letting  me  know 
it.  I  am  confident  that  it  is  his  design  to  restore 
the  Union.  He  will  do  it  in  His  own  good  time.  We 
should  obey  and  not  oppose  His  will." 

"You  speak  with  such  confidence,"  said  Mr.  Chit 
tenden,  "that  I  would  like  to  know  how  your  know- 


THE  SHADOW  OF  A  MIGHTY  ROCK  99 

ledge  that  God  acts  directly  upon  human  affairs 
compares  in  certainty  with  your  knowledge  of  a  fact 
apparent  to  the  senses — for  example,  the  fact  that  we 
are  at  this  moment  here  in  this  room." 

"One  is  as  certain  as  the  other,"  answered  Lincoln, 
"although  the  conclusions  are  reached  by  different 
processes.  I  know  by  my  senses  that  the  movements 
of  the  world  are  those  of  an  infinitely  powerful  ma 
chine,  which  runs  for  ages  without  variation.  A  man 
who  can  put  two  ideas  together  knows  that  such  a 
machine  requires  an  infinitely  powerful  maker  and 
governor;  man's  nature  is  such  that  he  cannot  take  in 
the  machine  and  keep  out  the  maker.  This  maker  is 
God — infinite  in  wisdom  as  well  as  power.  Would 
we  be  any  more  certain  if  we  saw  Him?" 

"I  am  not  controverting  your  position,"  said  Chit- 
tenden.  "Your  confidence  interests  me  beyond  ex 
pression.  I  wish  I  knew  how  to  acquire  it.  Even 
now,  must  it  not  all  depend  on  our  faith  in  the 
Bible  ? "  "  No, ' '  said  Lincoln.  ' '  There  is  the  element 
of  personal  experience.  If  it  did,  the  character  of  the 
Bible  is  easily  established,  at  least  to  my  satisfaction. 
We  have  to  believe  many  things  that  we  do  not  com 
prehend.  The  Bible  is  the  only  one  that  claims  to  be 
God's  Book — to  comprise  His  law — His  history.  It 
contains  an  immense  amount  of  evidence  of  its  own 
authenticity.  It  describes  a  Governor  omnipotent 
enough  to  operate  this  great  machine,  and  declares 
that  He  made  it.  It  states  other  facts  which  we  do 
not  fully  comprehend,  but  which  we  cannot  account 
for.  What  shall  we  do  with  them? 

"Now,  let  us  treat  the  Bible  fairly,"  continued 
Lincoln.  "If  we  had  a  witness  on  the  stand  whose 
general  story  we  knew  was  true,  we  would  believe 


ioo  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

him  when  he  asserted  facts  of  which  we  had  no  other 
evidence.  We  ought  to  treat  the  Bible  with  equal 
fairness.  I  decided  a  long  time  ago  that  it  was  less 
difficult  to  believe  that  the  Bible  was  what  it  claimed 
to  be  than  to  disbelieve  it.  It  is  a  good  book  for  us 
to  obey — it  contains  the  Ten  Commandments,  the 
Golden  Rule  and  many  other  rules  which  ought  to  be 
followed.  No  man  was  ever  the  worse  for  living 
according  to  the  directions  of  the  Bible." 

"If  your  views  are  correct,"  said  Chittenden,  "the 
Almighty  is  on  our  side,  and  we  ought  to  win  without 
so  many  losses.  .  .  ." 

Mr.  Lincoln  promptly  interrupted  him  and  said: 
"We  have  no  right  to  criticize  or  complain.  He  is  on 
our  side  and  so  is  the  Bible  and  so  are  the  churches 
and  Christian  societies  and  organizations — all  of  them, 
so  far  as  I  know,  almost  without  an  exception.  It 
makes  me  stronger  and  more  confident  to  know  that 
all  the  Christians  in  the  loyal  States  are  praying  for 
our  success,  and  that  all  their  influences  are  working 
to  the  same  end.  Thousands  of  them  are  fighting  for 
us,  and  no  one  will  say  that  an  officer  or  a  private  is 
less  brave  because  he  is  a  praying  soldier.  At  first, 
when  we  had  such  long  spells  of  bad  luck,  I  used  to 
lose  heart  sometimes.  Now,  I  seem  to  know  that 
Providence  has  protected  and  will  protect  us  against 
any  fatal  defeat.  All  we  have  to  do  is  to  trust  the 
Almighty,  and  keep  on  obeying  His  orders  and 
executing  His  will."1 

The  genuineness  of  this  interview,  when  care 
fully  compared  with  the  expression  of  similar  senti- 

1  Chittenden,  pp.  448-450. 


THE  SHADOW  OF  A  MIGHTY  ROCK  101 

ments  in  a  conversation  with  Dr.  Robert  Browne, 
finds  strong  corroboration.  Speaking  to  Dr. 
Browne  of  the  divine  influence  upon  his  life,  he 
said: 

"When  I  set  my  mind  at  work  to  find  some  way  of 
evading  or  declining  a  journey,  a  speech  or  service, 
instead  of  my  own  spirit  a  something  stronger  says, 
'  You  must  go.  You  must  not  disappoint  these  people, 
who  have  given  you  their  confidence  as  they  have  no 
other  man.' 

"I  am  a  full  believer  that  God  knows  what  He 
wants  a  man  to  do,  that  which  pleases  Him.  It  is 
never  well  with  the  man  who  heeds  it  not.  I  talk  to 
God.  My  mind  seems  relieved  when  I  do,  and  a  way 
is  suggested,  that  if  it  is  not  a  supernatural  one,  it  is 
always  one  that  comes  at  a  time,  and  accords  with  a 
common-sense  view  of  the  work.  I  take  up  the  com 
mon  one  of  making  a  speech  somewhere  or  other. 
These  come  almost  every  day.  I  get  ready  for  them 
as  occasion  seems  to  require.  I  arrange  the  facts, 
make  a  few  notes,  some  little  memorandums  like  these 
you  have  seen  so  often  and  are  so  familiar  with.  I 
take  them,  and  as  far  as  facts  are  concerned  confine 
myself  to  them  and  rarely  make  any  particular  pre 
paration  for  feeling,  sympathy,  or  purely  sentimental 
thoughts. 

"When  my  plans  for  the  discussion  are  made,  and 
the  foundations  are  laid,  I  find  that  I  am  done  and 
all  at  sea  unless  I  arouse  myself  to  the  spirit  and  merits 
of  my  cause.  With  my  mind  directed  to  the  necessity, 
I  catch  the  fire  of  it,  the  spirit  of  the  inspiration.  I 
see  it  reflected  in  the  open  faces  and  throbbing  hearts 


102  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

before  me.  This  impulse  comes  and  goes,  and  again 
returns  and  seems  to  take  possession  of  me.  The 
influence,  whatever  it  is,  has  taken  effect.  It  is  con 
tagion  ;  the  people  fall  into  the  stream  and  follow  me 
in  the  inspiration,  or  what  is  beyond  my  understand 
ing.  This  seems  evidence  to  me,  a  weak  man,  that 
God  Himself  is  leading  the  way."1 


These  ringing  words  of  faith  in  the  divine  are 
but  the  highest  mark  of  the  great  current  of 
spiritual  conviction  flowing  through  the  life  of 
Lincoln  and  are  therefore  clothed  with  an  au 
thoritative  import  which  precludes  the  possi 
bility  of  any  misgiving  as  to  Abraham  Lincoln's 
trust  in  a  personal  God  and  his  ruling  presence 
in  the  movements  of  men  and  nations.  Ex- 
Senator  James  F.  Wilson  of  Iowa  relates  an  ac 
count  of  a  visit  which  he,  with  several  other 
gentlemen  made  upon  President  Lincoln  in  June, 
1862.  Slavery  and  the  war  situation  were  freely 
discussed.  Mr.  Lincoln  sat  quietly  in  his  chair, 
listening  to  what  different  ones  had  to  say.  After 
awhile  he  arose  and  stood  at  his  extreme  height. 
Pausing  a  moment,  his  right  arm  outstretched 
toward  the  gentleman  who  had  just  ceased  speak 
ing,  his  face  aglow  like  the  face  of  a  prophet,  Mr. 
Lincoln  gave  deliberate  and  emphatic  utterance  to 

1  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  194-195. 


THE  SHADOW  OF  A  MIGHTY  ROCK  103 

the  religious  faith  which  sustained  him  in  the 
great  trial  to  which  he  and  the  country  were 
subjected : 

"  My  faith  is  greater  than  yours.  I  not  only  be 
lieve  that  Providence  is  not  unmindful  of  the  struggle 
in  which  this  nation  is  engaged,  that  if  we  do  not  do 
right,  God  will  let  us  go  our  own  way  to  ruin;  and 
that  if  we  do  right,  He  will  lead  us  safely  out  of  this 
wilderness,  crown  our  arms  with  victory  and  restore 
our  dissevered  Union,  as  you  have  expressed  your 
belief;  but  I  also  believe  He  will  compel  us  to  do  right, 
in  order  that  He  may  do  these  things,  not  so  much 
because  we  desire  them  as  that  they  accord  with  His 
plans  of  dealing  with  this  nation,  in  the  midst  of 
which  He  means  to  establish  justice.  I  think  that 
He  means  that  we  shall  do  more  than  we  have  yet 
done  in  the  furtherance  of  His  plans  and  He  will  open 
the  way  for  our  doing  it.  I  have  felt  His  hand  upon 
me  in  great  trials  and  submitted  to  His  guidance,  and 
I  trust  that  as  He  shall  farther  open  the  way,  I  will  be 
ready  to  walk  therein,  relying  on  His  help  and  trusting 
in  His  goodness  and  wisdom."1 

Whittier  was  at  his  best  in  those  formative  days 
of  Lincoln's  character.  His  mind  moved  along 
the  same  broad  highway  up  to  God,  and  his  march 
ing  song  could  as  well  have  been  the  marching 
song  of  Lincoln: 

1  North  American  Review,  December,  1896,  p.  667,  James  F. 
Wilson. 


104  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OP  GOD 

A  marvel  seems  the  universe, 
A  miracle  our  life  and  death, 
A  mystery  which  I  cannot  pierce, 
Around,  above,  beneath. 
Now  my  spirit  sighs  for  home, 
And  longs  for  light  whereby  to  see, 
And  like  a  weary  child  has  come, 
O,  Father,  unto  Thee. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  WHEAT  AND  THE  TARES 

LINCOLN'S  protest  in  the  Illinois  Legislature 
against  the  pro-slavery  resolution  was  the  first 
conspicuous  act  in  the  great  national  drama  in 
which  he  was  to  become  the  principal  figure.  His 
faith  that  the  divine  purpose  would  ripen  fast  and 
that  the  truth  would  ultimately  triumph  grew 
stronger  with  the  years.  In  his  manifesto  to  the 
electorate  during  his  second  candidacy  for  the 
Legislature,  in  1836,  he  placed  Woman's  Suffrage 
in  a  moral  light : 

I  go  for  all  sharing  the  privileges  of  the  govern 
ment  who  assist  in  bearing  its  burdens ;  consequently, 
I  go  for  admitting  whites  to  the  right  of  suffrage  who 
pay  taxes  or  bear  arms,  by  no  means  excluding  females. 
If  elected,  I  shall  consider  the  whole  people  of  Sanga- 
mon  County  my  constituents,  as  well  those  that  oppose 
me  as  those  that  support  me. 

This  was  looked  upon  as  bold  and  audacious. 
True,  he  advocated  the  limiting  of  the  voting  privi 
lege  to  white  persons,  but  as  there  was  no  thought 

105 


io6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

then  of  extending  the  suffrage  to  the  coloured  race 
it  was  not  an  issue.  The  characteristic  of  Lin 
coln's  faith  was  that  it  manifested  itself  along 
practical  lines.  "Votes  for  Women"  was  a  sub 
ject  little  heard  of  then,  though  it  was  beginning 
to  be  agitated.  Lincoln,  in  his  readiness  to  en 
large  the  rights  of  suffrage  so  as  to  include  the 
entire  Anglo  Saxon  race,  men  and  women,  was 
more  than  half  a  century  ahead  of  his  time.  His 
biographer,  Herndon,  says: 

We  need  no  further  evidence  to  satisfy  our  minds 
as  to  his  position  on  the  subject  of  women's  rights, 
had  he  lived.  In  fact,  I  cannot  refrain  from  noting 
here  what  views  he  in  after  years  held  in  reference  to 
the  great  questions  of  moral  and  social  reform  under 
which  he  classed  universal  suffrage,  temperance,  and 
slavery.  "All  such  questions,"  he  observed  one  day, 
as  we  were  discussing  temperance  in  the  office,  "must 
find  lodgment  with  the  most  enlightened  souls  who 
stamp  them  with  their  approval.  In  God's  own  time, 
they  will  be  organized  into  law  and  woven  into  the 
fabric  of  all  our  institutions." 

Herndon,  who  is  largely  responsible  for  the  im 
pression  that  Lincoln  was  a  sceptic,  attributes  his 
rare  gifts  of  foresight  to  nature.  He  says:  "Na 
ture  had  burned  in  him  her  holy  fire,  and  stamped 
him  with  the  seal  of  her  greatness."  But  to 
Lincoln  nature  was  but  another  name  for  God. 


THE  WHEAT  AND  THE  TARES      107 

While,  with  prophetic  insight,  he  was  always 
looking  to  see  slavery  destroyed,  he  yet  believed 
in  employing  rational  means.  For  example,  in  ad 
vocating  the  election  of  General  Taylor  in  1848, 
he  condemned  the  Free  Soilers  as  practically  help 
ing  to  elect  Cass,  who  was  less  likely  to  promote 
freedom  in  the  territories  than  Taylor.  There  was 
no  difference,  he  claimed,  between  the  Free  Soil 
Party  and  the  Whigs  in  regard  to  the  exclusion 
of  slavery  from  the  territories.  The  Free  Soilers 
had  but  the  one  plank  to  their  platform,  reminding 
Lincoln  of  the  Yankee  pedlar  who,  in  offering 
for  sale  a  pair  of  pantaloons,  described  them  as 
"large  enough  for  any  man  and  small  enough  for 
any  boy."  To  their  claim  to  the  right  and  duty 
to  act  independently,  leaving  consequences  to 
God,  Lincoln  replied:  "When  divine  or  human 
law  does  not  clearly  point  out  our  duty,  it  must 
be  found  out  by  intelligent  judgment,  which  takes 
in  the  results  of  action." 

Lincoln  was  no  fanatic,  but  sought  the  best 
means  to  a  desired  end,  even  if  it  involved  delay. 
So  it  was  with  the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 
Extremists  were  ever  urging  him  to  take  the 
action  sooner  than  he  thought  it  wise.  But  he 
knew  that  if  he  issued  the  Proclamation  prema 
turely  he  would  alienate  many  loyal  men  of  the 


io8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

North  and  also  of  the  Border  States  who  were  not 
yet  ready  to  approve  so  radical  a  step.  He  lived 
up  to  the  parable  of  the  wheat  and  the  tares.  He 
let  the  tares  grow  awhile  lest  the  wheat  be  harmed 
by  attempting  to  pluck  up  the  tares.  He  waited 
until  he  could  invoke  along  with  the  blessing  of 
Almighty  God  the  considerate  judgment  of  man 
kind  before  striking  the  shackles  from  four  mil 
lions  of  men,  women,  and  children  held  in  the 
bonds  of  slavery. 

Lincoln's  common  sense  illumined  by  faith  in 
God  was  evident  even  to  the  casual.  After  his 
death,  one  of  his  fellow  lawyers  paid  him  this 
tribute:  "He  was  wonderfully  kind,  careful,  and 
just.  His  love  for  justice  and  fair  play  was  his 
predominating  trait.  He  had  an  immense  stock 
of  common  sense  and  he  had  faith  enough  in  it  to 
trust  it  in  every  emergency." 

An  incident  indicating  Lincoln's  kindliness  of 
heart  and  strength  of  will  occurred  in  1854.  A 
young  negro,  the  son  of  a  free  coloured  woman  in 
Springfield,  went  from  his  home  and  hired  out  as 
a  deck  hand  on  a  lower  Mississippi  steamboat. 
Though  born  free,  he  was  subject  to  the  tyranny 
of  the  black  code  prevailing  in  the  slave  states, 
under  which  he  was  arrested  in  St.  Louis  and  kept 
in  prison  until  his  boat  left.  The  authorities  then 


THE  WHEAT  AND  THE  TARES     109 

conveniently  forgot  him.  After  a  given  time,  es 
tablished  by  law,  he  would  have  been  inevitably 
sold  into  slavery  to  defray  prison  expenses  had  not 
Lincoln,  moved  by  the  mother's  story,  interposed. 
He,  in  conjunction  with  others,  went  to  see  the 
Governor  of  Illinois  who,  after  a  patient  and 
thorough  examination  of  the  law,  informed  Lin 
coln  that  the  Governor  of  Illinois  had  no  right  or 
power  to  interfere.  Recourse  was  then  had  to  the 
Governor  of  Indiana,  but  with  like  results.  Lin 
coln  had  a  second  interview  with  the  Governor  of 
Illinois,  but  without  avail.  Lincoln  arose,  hat  in 
hand,  as  he  said  with  emphasis:  "By  the  Eternal, 
Governor,  I  will  make  the  ground  in  this  country 
too  hot  for  the  foot  of  a  slave,  whether  you  have 
the  legal  power  to  secure  the  release  of  this  boy 
or  not!" 

Having  exhausted  all  legal  means  to  secure  the 
boy's  liberation,  Lincoln,  in  pure  kindness  of  heart, 
drew  up  a  subscription  paper,  collected  funds  to 
purchase  the  young  man's  liberty  and  restored 
him  to  his  overjoyed  mother. 

At  that  time  Lincoln  was  not  so  poor  and  friend 
less  as  he  was  when,  at  New  Orleans,  he  forcibly 
indicated  his  determination  to  hit  slavery  hard  if 
ever  he  had  a  chance  at  it.  He  was  now  a  success 
ful  lawyer,  with  enough  prominence  in  politics 


I  io  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OP  GOD 

to  receive  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  people  of 
his  State  for  the  United  States  Senate.  The  place 
was  considered  rightfully  his  due  for  his  services  in 
the  movement  which  gave  birth  and  power  to  the 
Republican  party,  and  was  destined  to  stop  the 
further  extension  of  slavery.  But  he  generally 
yielded  to  Lyman  Trumbull  in  order  to  avoid 
factional  division.  When  he  made  his  New 
Orleans  threat  there  seemed  no  possibility  of  his 
ever  being  able  to  execute  it ;  but  the  possibilities 
were  not  so  remote  when  he  declared  his  purpose 
to  make  the  ground  of  the  country  too  hot  for  the 
foot  of  a  slave.  But  in  what  way,  and  by  what 
means  he  should  accomplish  his  purpose  had  not 
yet  been  revealed  to  him.  However,  there  were 
the  same  prophetic  stirrings  within  him  that 
marked  his  early  boyhood,  and  he  held  himself 
then,  and  at  all  times,  in  readiness  to  obey  the 
summons  when  called  to  do  his  appointed  work. 

Early  in  1855  the  " Border  Ruffian"  outrages  be 
gan  to  attract  attention.  The  stories  of  raids,  elec 
tion  frauds,  murders,  and  other  crimes  stirred  the 
friends  of  freedom  to  fever  heat.  An  association 
was  formed  in  Illinois  to  aid  the  cause  of  Free 
Statesmen  in  Kansas.  Feeling  at  the  meetings  of 
this  association  ran  so  high  as  to  be  almost  revo 
lutionary.  Some  of  the  speakers  advocated  the 


THE  WHEAT  AND  THE  TARES     ill 

employment  of  any  means,  however  desperate,  to 
defend  and  promote  the  cause  of  freedom.  At 
one  of  the  meetings  Lincoln  was  called  on  for  a 
speech.  The  meeting  was  belligerent  in  tone  and 
clearly  out  of  patience  with  the  government. 
Lincoln  counselled  moderation,  less  bitterness,  and 
opposed  the  idea  of  coercive  measures  in  dealing 
with  the  situation.  He  told  them  they  could 
better  succeed  with  the  ballot  than  with  the  bullet : 

You  can  peaceably  then  redeem  the  government 
and  preserve  the  liberties  of  mankind  through  your 
votes  and  voice  and  moral  influence.  Let  there  be 
peace.  Revolutionize  through  the  ballot  box.  Re 
store  the  government  once  more  to  the  affections  and 
hearts  of  men  by  making  it  express,  as  it  was  intended 
to  do,  the  highest  spirit  of  justice  and  liberty.  Your 
attempt,  if  there  be  such,  to  resist  the  laws  of  Kansas 
by  force,  is  criminal  and  wicked,  and  all  your  feeble 
attempts  will  be  false  and  end  in  bringing  sorrow  on 
your  heads,  and  ruin  the  cause  you  would  freely  die  to 
serve. 

At  the  same  time  Lincoln  joined  in  a  subscrip 
tion  of  money  to  aid  the  hard  pressed  Free  Soilers 
of  Kansas.  This  was  the  most  that  sympathizers 
in  other  states  could  do  at  the  time  without  de 
fiance  to  the  properly  constituted  authorities. 
Many  of  Lincoln's  friends  were  impatient  with 
his  moderation,  but  it  was  characteristic  of  him 


H2  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OP  GOD 

to  keep  within  the  law,  and  to  direct  public  senti 
ment  aright  rather  than  to  be  led  by  it  into 
rashness. 

After  he  became  President,  there  was  the  same 
bitter  complaint  of  his  early  conduct  of  the  war; 
but  by  refraining  from  rashness  he  threw  the 
responsibility  for  illegal  action  upon  the  assailants 
of  the  Union,  and  thus  assured  the  support  of 
intelligent  and  righteous  public  sentiment  for  the 
Union  cause.  His  heart  was  set  upon  preserving 
our  republican  inheritance  unimpaired,  and  he 
realized  more  clearly  than  any  other  man  of  his 
time  that  he  could  not  proceed  farther,  or  faster, 
than  he  could  carry  public  sentiment  with  him 
without  the  risk  of  alienating  men  who  were  loyal 
at  heart,  and  whose  support  was  necessary  to 
success.  In  his  infinite  patience  and  apparent 
slowness  he  was  guided  by  true  insight  into  the 
trend  of  affairs.  When  assured  of  conditions  that 
would  require  no  backward  step,  he  was  always 
ready  to  move. 

His  attitude  was  that  of  the  true  progressive, 
neither  reactionary  nor  unduly  radical,  but  care 
ful,  deliberate,  and  determined.  The  debate  with 
Douglas,  in  1858,  revealed  Lincoln's  prophetic 
insight.  Douglas's  acceptance  of  the  Dred  Scott 
decision  was  inconsistent  with  his  doctrine  of 


THE  WHEAT  AND  THE  TARES      113 

"Squatter  Sovereignty."  Under  that  decision 
the  Constitution  carried  slavery  into  the  terri 
tories,  but  "Squatter  Sovereignty"  established 
the  right  of  the  voter  in  a  territory  to  determine 
whether  slavery  should  exist  among  them  or  not. 
Lincoln  claimed  that  this  was  equivalent  to  de 
claring  that  the  people  have  a  right  to  drive  away 
that  which  had  a  right  to  remain,  and  with  merci 
less  logic  he  drove  this  glaring  inconsistency  home 
to  Douglas.  It  was  Lincoln's  purpose  to  make 
Douglas  abandon  his  attitude  of  indifference  to 
slavery  and  to  compel  him  to  say  whether  he 
thought  it  right  or  wrong  in  itself.  To  this  end 
he  framed  questions  designed  to  oblige  Douglas 
to  admit  or  deny  the  abstract  right  of  slavery. 

Lincoln's  friends  remonstrated  with  him.  "If 
you  put  these  questions,"  they  said,  "he  will  see 
that  an  answer  giving  practical  force  and  effect 
to  the  Dred  Scott  Decision  in  the  territories  will 
inevitably  lose  him  the  battle  for  the  Senatorship. 
He  will  therefore  reply  by  offering  the  decision  as 
an  abstract  principle,  but  denying  its  practical 
application.  He  will  say  that  the  decision  is  just 
and  right,  but  that  it  can  be  made  practically  non- 
effective  in  any  territory  by  unfriendly  legislation." 
"If  he  makes  that  shoot,"  said  Lincoln,  "he  can 
never  be  President."  Lincoln's  friends  replied: 


114  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

" That  is  not  your  lookout;  you  are  after  the  Sena- 
torship."  "No,  no,  gentlemen,"  said  Lincoln, 
"you  do  not  understand.  I  am  after  larger  game. 
The  battle  of  1860  is  worth  a  hundred  of  these." 
There  are  few,  if  any,  such  examples  of  masterly 
political  strategy.  It  succeeded  because  it  origi 
nated  in  real  faith  in  God  and  man.  Douglas 
won  the  Illinois  Senatorship,  but  lost  the  Presi 
dency  by  arousing  the  distrust  and  suspicion  of 
the  uncompromising  pro-slavery  vote,  especially  in 
the  South. 

It  may  be,  or  it  may  not,  that  Lincoln  foresaw 
himself  as  the  Republican  nominee  for  the  Presi 
dency  in  1860;  but  his  personal  interest  made  no 
difference  with  him  in  his  contest  with  Douglas. 
He  was  fighting  a  battle  of  principles.  He  saw 
that  it  was  necessary  to  eliminate  Douglas  as  a 
dominant  political  factor  in  order  to  put  an  end 
to  the  era  of  nauseating  compromise.  Douglas 
was  the  only  man  in  the  country  whose  adroitness, 
prestige,  and  oratorical  force  could  delude  the 
people  by  juggling  with  the  issues  and  so  prevent 
the  square  issue  of  freedom  versus  slavery.  Lin 
coln  was  confident  that  when  these  issues  were  so 
joined,  freedom  would  triumph.  He  probably  did 
not  believe,  any  more  than  other  Northern  men  at 
the  time,  that  the  South  would  actually  fight  for 


THE  WHEAT  AND  THE  TARES     115 

the  extension  of  slavery.  He  supposed  that,  after 
being  fairly  beaten  in  the  battle  of  ballots,  they 
would  submit  to  the  inevitable.  But  he  wanted 
the  issue  joined,  and  was  willing  to  take  the  risks 
even  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  immediate  ambition 
to  go  to  the  United  States  Senate. 

In  the  light  of  subsequent  events  it  seems  that 
Lincoln  was  endowed  with  more  than  mortal  wis 
dom  and  that  he  was  God's  chosen  instrument  to 
clarify  the  issues  of  the  inevitable  conflict  for 
which  the  time  was  now  fully  ripe.  When  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  was  beaten  for  the  Presidency,  Lincoln 
arose  to  the  full  height  of  his  real  greatness  as  a 
man,  as  a  statesman,  as  a  patriot.  His  popular 
vote  was  1,375,157 — more  than  a  half  million 
larger  than  the  pro-slavery  candidate's — and  when 
the  dreaded  conflict  came  he  led  this  vast  army, 
with  the  population  it  represented,  into  the  fight 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  HOUSE  DIVIDED 

LINCOLN  showed  his  independence  and  tenacity 
of  purpose  when  he  wrote  his  address  accepting  the 
nomination  for  United  States  Senator  at  the  hands 
of  the  Republicans.  This  is  known  as  ' '  The  House 
Divided  Against  Itself"  speech.  It  embodied  the 
historic  declaration  that  the  Union  could  not  exist 
"half  slave  and  half  free."  To  his  friend,  Jesse 
K.  Dubois,  Lincoln  said: 

I  refused  to  read  the  passage  about  the  house  di 
vided  against  itself  to  you,  because  I  knew  you  would 
ask  me  to  change  or  modify  it,  and  that  I  was  deter 
mined  not  to  do.  I  had  willed  it  so,  and  was  willing, 
if  necessary,  to  perish  with  it.  That  expression  is  a 
truth  of  all  human  experience :  a  house  divided  against 
itself  cannot  stand.  I  want  to  use  some  universally 
known  figure  expressed  in  simple  language,  that  it  may 
strike  home  to  the  minds  of  men,  in  order  to  arouse 
them  to  the  peril  of  the  times.  I  would  rather  be  de 
feated  with  this  expression  in  the  speech,  and  to  up 
hold  and  discuss  it  before  the  people,  than  to  be 
victorious  without  it. 

116 


THE  HOUSE  DIVIDED  117 

It  was  this  singular  disposition  to  speak  the 
whole  truth  that  distinguished  Lincoln  from  his 
fellows.  He  knew  that  a  half  truth  is  often  worse 
than  a  whole  lie.  This  he  had  attempted  in  his 
boyhood  to  make  clear  to  his  step-sister.  Skilled 
politician  as  he  was,  his  skill  lay  not  in  the  artistic 
campaign  lie,  which  may  be  effective  for  the  mo 
ment,  but  later  must  inevitably  involve  its  author 
in  difficulty.  His  skill  grew  out  of  his  knowledge 
that  human  nature,  in  the  last  analysis,  adheres  to 
the  abstract  principle  of  right,  and  that  men  and 
women  the  world  over  can  always  be  aroused  to 
the  defence  of  moral  truth  when  made  to  under 
stand  it.  His  political  sagacity,  therefore,  con 
sisted  mainly  in  his  faith,  which  was  little  short  of 
sublime,  in  the  final  verdict  of  the  common  people, 
and  "the  common  people  heard  him  gladly."  His 
friend  and  partner,  Herndon,  more  far-seeing  than 
Lincoln's  critics,  in  speaking  of  the  "house  divided 
against  itself"  phrase,  said:  "Lincoln,  deliver  that 
speech  as  read,  and  it  will  make  you  President." 
In  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  Lincoln's  utter 
ance  on  that  occasion  must  be  regarded  as  a  flash 
of  inspiration,  and  his  determination  to  perish 
with  the  truth,  if  need  be,  as  an  instance  of  rare 
courage,  born  from  above.  To  the  worldly  wis 
dom  of  men,  his  path  to  the  Presidency  lay  through 


118  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

the  United  States  Senate.  It  was  a  supreme 
moment,  therefore,  when  this  backwoods  boy 
grown  to  manhood,  was  proposed  for  the  great 
office  of  United  States  Senator.  A  sorer  tempta 
tion  can  scarcely  be  conceived  to  barter  his 
convictions  to  ambition.  Lincoln  knew  that  by 
pandering  to  the  slave  sentiment  in  the  State  he 
could  probably  be  elected,  and  that  to  tell  the  truth, 
the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  would 
bring  defeat. 

He  recognized  that  the  country  must  soon  be  all 
one  thing,  or  all  the  other.  The  North  could  not 
remain  faithful  to  anti-slavery,  the  South  to  pro- 
slavery,  and  the  country  remain  one.  He  knew 
this  just  as  he  knew  that  the  soul  suffers  no  divi 
sion  in  its  adherence  to  spiritual  truth.  Lincoln 
could  not  have  been  an  agnostic,  either  in  religion 
or  in  politics,  in  his  love  of  freedom  or  his  loyalty 
to  the  Union.  His  was  a  positive  nature.  He 
must  be  either  anti-slavery  and  unionist,  or  pro- 
slavery  and  dis-unionist.  If  he  had  not  been  a 
positive  Christian,  he  would  have  been  a  rank 
infidel.  Hypocrisy  was  something  of  which  his 
worst  enemies  never  seriously  accused  him,  The 
principle  that  led  him  to  occupy  an  uncomprising 
attitude  in  politics  forced  him  to  a  like  position  in 
religion.  It  was  not  his  nature  to  temporize.  As 


THE  HOUSE  DIVIDED  119 

fast  as  he  garnered  the  fruits  of  his  mental  and 
spiritual  thought  and  effort,  he  brought  them  into 
use,  adapting  his  political  and  social  life  to  them. 
And  the  inherent  truthfulness  that  marked  his 
"house  divided"  address  was  only  his  natural  and 
practical  religion  carried  into  his  secular  activities, 
as  true  religion  should  always  manifest  itself  in 
practical  life. 

After  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
Lincoln  became  convinced  that  the  nation  could 
not  endure  half  slave  and  half  free.  The  Com 
promise  itself,  enacted  in  1821,  was  probably  the 
best  measure  under  the  conditions  then  existing. 
But  it  could  not  be  finality.  The  very  title  of  the 
measure  indicated  that  conflicting  views  had 
entered  into  temporary  truce.  Inasmuch  as  these 
opposing  views  were  based  on  radically  different 
moral  conceptions,  it  was  inevitable  that,  in  time, 
a  conflict  must  ensue.  Nothing  is  ever  settled 
until  it  is  settled  right. 

What  the  result  would  have  been  had  the  South 
held  to  the  terms  of  the  Compromise,  no  one  can 
tell.  It  was  the  immorality  of  slavery  as  an  in 
stitution,  and  its  inconsistency  with  the  progress  of 
humanity  which  at  last  brought  on  the  conflict 
that  ended  in  the  destruction  of  slavery.  However, 
the  slave  party  rode  to  its  fall  by  aggressions  which 


120  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

impressed  the  anti-slavery  forces,  both  North  and 
South,  with  the  inevitableness  of  the  conflict.  The 
South  was  not  content  to  rest  upon  the  laurels  it 
won  in  the  Compromise  but  continued  to  plan 
further  extensions  of  slavery.  Not  only  must  it 
abide  in  States  where  human  beings  were  already 
held  as  chattels,  but  the  hated  institution  must 
be  planted  in  territory  then  free. 

The  Southern  politicians  deliberately  sought  to 
nationalize  the  slavery  system.  Steadily  and 
stealthily,  powerfully  but  under  cover,  these  pro- 
slavery  leaders  planned  for  the  extension  of  slave 
territory.  It  was  in  the  face  of  this  growing  and 
powerful  conspiracy  that  Lincoln  hurled  his  im 
mortal  challenge:  "This  nation  cannot  exist,  half 
slave  and  half  free." 

Other  crises  in  the  history  of  nations  have  con 
densed  tremendous  principle  and  sentiment  into  a 
terse,  striking  sentence.  The  French  Revolution 
gave  us  the  words,  "Liberty,  Fraternity,  Equal 
ity,"  which  rallied  the  adherents  of  a  new  order  and 
gave  them  their  battle  cry.  The  Revolutionary 
crisis  in  this  country  gave  immortality  to  Patrick 
Henry's  declaration  in  the  Virginia  House  of 
Burgesses:  "Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death!" 
Abraham  Lincoln  condensed  and  crystallized  Amer 
ican  sentiment  on  the  central  issue  at  the  thresh- 


THE  HOUSE  DIVIDED  121 

hold  of  the  Civil  War  within  the  compass  of  nine 
words:  "This  nation  cannot  exist,  half  slave  and 
half  free!"  Appealing  alike  to  the  scholar,  the 
statesman,  the  toiler  in  the  field  and  in  the  factory, 
it  was  another  such  battle  cry  as  that  which  sum 
moned  men  to  do  and  die  for  the  right,  and  inspired 
them  to  the  overturning  of  empires.  The  sentence 
did  close  the  door  of  the  United  States  Senate  in 
Lincoln's  face,  but  it  later  opened  to  him  the  door 
of  the  White  House. 

Lincoln's  dictum  revealed  his  capacity  to  grasp 
far-reaching  and  invincible  truths,  and  proved  his 
courage  to  dare  everything  in  his  loyalty  to  his 
conviction  of  right.  It  showed,  further,  that  he 
had  correctly  analyzed  the  social  order,  to  defend 
which  the  slave  power  was  working  with  all  the 
ingenuity  of  its  able  representatives.  Lincoln's 
early  training  in  the  wilderness  had  fitted  him  to 
make  that  analysis.  He  had  lived  where  every 
beast  of  the  forest  was  against  every  other  beast; 
where  one  brute  tolerated  another  only  when  that 
other  could  subsist  without  encroaching  upon  the 
natural  food  supply  which  he,  himself,  desired. 
He  knew  that,  under  the  law  of  the  forest,  the 
weak  were  trampled  underfoot,  and  only  the  strong 
could  survive.  He  also  knew  that  in  the  code  of 
the  forest  there  was  no  clause  providing  for  the 


122  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

succour  of  the  one  that  could  not  contend  against 
superior  strength.  To  Lincoln,  the  social  condi 
tion  where  slavery  obtained  was  of  a  kind  with  the 
law  of  the  jungle;  its  basic  principle  was  as  cruel 
as  that  in  the  wilderness;  and  the  slavery  social 
order,  while  boasting  of  its  chivalry,  had  forgotten 
justice — to  say  nothing  of  mercy — without  which 
chivalry  is  but  an  empty  shell  of  selfishness. 

How  gallant,  then,  Lincoln's  challenge,  flung  to 
the  country  from  Springfield,  when  he  accepted  the 
Republican  nomination  for  United  States  Senator. 
His  rival,  Douglas,  regarded  re-election  to  the 
Senate  as  a  great  stride  toward  the  Presidency. 
Likewise,  Lincoln's  election  to  the  Senate  might 
have  opened  the  way  for  him  to  the  White  House. 
But  his  inspiration  was  wiser  than  the  thoughts 
of  men.  Through  his  defeat  for  truth's  sake  he 
aroused  the  conscience  of  the  Nation  and  demon 
strated  the  futility  of  any  compromise  by  which 
the  slave  power  was  permitted  to  hold  the  balance. 
Had  Lincoln  pursued  a  more  politic  course  by 
withholding  his  celebrated  declaration  until  more 
advantageous  fighting  ground  was  gained,  he 
would  have  acted  in  accordance  with  the  wisdom 
of  men ;  but  conscience  would  not  have  approved. 
He  knew  in  his  heart  that  God  hates  temporizing 
and  concealment  when  vital  principle  is  at  stake. 


THE  HOUSE  DIVIDED  123 

His  resolve  not  to  truckle  to  the  prejudices  of  the 
hour  was  something  more  than  human  courage  and 
wisdom.  It  was  the  manhood  of  a  noble  spirit 
chosen  by  Him  Who  is  the  arbiter  of  destiny  for 
the  accomplishment  of  a  great  purpose. 

It  is  almost  uncanny  that  at  the  very  time 
Lincoln  was  working  out  his  uncompromising 
speech  on  slavery,  Arthur  Hugh  Clough,  both  in 
England  and  this  country,  was  setting  forth  the 
principle  identical,  in  verse  as  memorable  as  the 
prose  of  Lincoln : 

I  will  look  straight  out — 
See  things — not  try  to  evade  them. 
Fact  shall  be  fact  for  me,  and  the  truth  the  truth 
forever. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   CLAY   AND   THE   POTTER 

THE  religious  element  in  Lincoln's  character 
became  clearly  manifest  after  the  Republican 
party  had  come  into  being.  The  contest  between, 
the  old  Whig  and  the  Democratic  parties  had  been 
mainly  on  economic  grounds.  There  were,  of 
course,  economic  questions  into  which  the  moral 
element  was  already  entering,  as  the  tariff  for 
example;  but  there  was  no  question  so  predomi 
nantly  a  moral  question  as  was  that  issue  of  free 
dom  and  slavery.  Mr.  Lincoln's  temperament 
and  early  religious  bias  admirably  fitted  him  to 
deal  with  moral  issues.  This  became  apparent  in 
his  speech  delivered  at  Bloomington  in  May,  1856, 
before  the  first  Republican  State  Convention  of 
Illinois. 

The  new  party  had  been  organized  upon  the 
issue  of  the  non-extension  of  slavery.  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  and  pro-slavery  advocates  generally, 
insisted  on  treating  it  as  a  business  question, 
involving  only  the  rights  of  property.  But  Lin- 

124 


THE  CLAY  AND  THE  POTTER   125 

coin  saw,  behind  the  property  issue,  the  great 
moral  question  of  the  right  of  one  human  being 
holding  another  human  being  in  bondage,  and  of 
one  man  eating  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  another's 
face.  To  the  argument  of  Douglas,  that  the 
people  of  any  territory  had  the  right  to  vote 
slavery  up  or  down,  Lincoln  replied  that  the 
argument  would  be  sound  if  slavery  were  conceded 
to  be  right;  but  that,  if  slavery  were  wrong,  the 
people  had  no  right  to  extend  it  beyond  the  limits 
where  the  Constitution  and  the  ordinances  and 
agreements  made  pursuant  thereto,  already  permit 
it  to  exist.  In  his  Bloomington  speech,  he  said : 

We  have  seen  today  that  every  shade  of  popular 
opinion  is  represented  here ;  with  freedom,  or  rather  free 
soil  as  a  basis,  we  have  come  together  as  in  some  sort 
representatives  of  popular  opinion  against  the  exten 
sion  of  slavery  into  territory  now  free  in  fact  as  well  as 
by  law.  We  come  to  protest  against  a  great  wrong 
and  to  take  measures  to  determine  that  Kansas  shall 
be  free.  We,  therefore,  in  the  language  of  the  Bible, 
"lay  the  axe  to  the  root  of  the  tree." 

He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  Thomas 
Jefferson  himself  a  slaveholder,  mindful  of  the 
moral  element  in  slavery,  solemnly  declared  that 
he  ''trembled  for  his  country  when  he  remembered 
that  God  was  just."  And  Lincoln  asked  how  any 


126  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

advocate  of  the  extension  of  slavery,  if  slavery  was 
a  moral  and  political  wrong,  could  answer  to  God 
for  the  attempt  to  spread  and  fortify  it.  Further 
on  in  his  address,  he  said: 

• 

The  battle  of  freedom  is  to  be  fought  out  on  prin 
ciple.  Slavery  is  a  violation  of  the  eternal  right. 
We  have  temporized  with  it  from  the  necessities  of  our 
condition,  but  as  sure  as  God  reigns  and  school  chil 
dren  read,  that  black,  foul  lie  can  never  be  consecrated 
in  God's  hallowed  truth.  Can  we,  as  Christian  men, 
strong  and  free  ourselves,  wield  the  sledge  or  hold 
the  iron  with  which  to  manacle  anew  an  already  op 
pressed  race?  "Woe  unto  them,"  it  is  written,  "that 
decree  unrighteous  decrees,  and  that  have  wrought 
grievances  which  they  have  prescribed."  Those  who 
deny  freedom  to  others  deserve  it  not  themselves,  and 
under  the  rule  of  a  just  God  cannot  long  retain  it. 
There  is  both  power  and  a  magic  in  popular  opinion. 
To  that  let  us  now  appeal,  and  while  in  all  probability 
no  resort  to  force  will  be  needed,  our  moderation  and 
forbearance  will  stand  us  in  good  stead  when,  if  ever, 
we  must  make  an  appeal  to  battle  and  to  the  God  of 
Hosts. 

If  there  were  no  other  evidence  of  Lincoln's 
Christian  character,  his  Bloomington  speech  would 
be  sufficient. 

Lincoln's  reliance  upon  God  for  the  triumph  of 
moral  ideas,  as  declared  in  his  Bloomington  speech, 
made  when  there  was  no  thought  of  him  in  the 


THE  CLAY  AND  THE  POTTER   127 

public  mind  in  connection  with  the  Presidency, 
was  maintained  throughout  his  official  life.  When 
the  time  came  for  an  appeal  to  battle,  it  was  always 
coupled  in  Lincoln's  mind  and  heart  with  an  appeal 
to  the  God  of  Hosts. 

It  was  the  crisis  for  the  fight  for  freedom  which 
Abraham  Lincoln  faced  when  a  subservient  Con 
gress  yielded  to  the  greedy  demands  of  the  slave 
party  in  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  had  led  the  fight  for  the  repeal, 
and  was  the  one  man  in  the  North  who  joined  with 
the  Southern  slavery  politicians,  giving  them  the 
political  strength  essential  to  the  success  of  the 
repeal.  Douglas  thus  gave  the  South  the  support 
in  the  North,  without  which  it  could  not  have  re 
moved  the  Compromise  from  the  statute  books.  It 
was  the  repeal  of  the  Compromise  which  convinced 
Lincoln  that  further  compromise  was  impossible— 
that  the  Nation  must  now  choose  between  legalized 
slavery  in  every  part  of  the  country  and  a  country 
under  whose  flag  every  man  should  be  free.  New 
England  anti-slavery  forces  had  been  the  most 
powerful  in  the  Nation  to  that  time,  but  the  western 
prairies  were  now  to  take  the  leadership  in  the  war 
for  human  liberty.  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  were  the  opposing  leaders  in  the  conflict 
and  to  the  victor  was  to  go  at  last  the  Presidency. 


128  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

So  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  Lincoln  first  gave 
expression  to  the  conviction  that  the  country  must 
be  all  one  thing  or  all  the  other  in  a  private  letter 
of  August,  1855,  written  to  George  Robertson,  of 
Lexington,  Kentucky.  In  his  letter,  Lincoln  re 
ferred  to  a  speech  made  by  Robertson  many  years 
before,  at  the  time  when  Missouri  was  admitted  to 
the  Union.  Lincoln  wrote: 

In  that  speech,  you  spoke  of  the  peaceful  extinc 
tion  of  slavery  and  used  other  expressions  indicating 
your  belief  that  the  thing  was  at  some  time  to  have  an 
end.  Since  then,  we  have  had  thirty-six  years  of  ex 
perience,  and  this  experience  has  demonstrated,  I 
think,  that  there  is  no  peaceful  extinction  of  slavery 
in  prospect  for  us.  The  signal  failure  of  Henry  Clay, 
and  other  good  and  great  men,  in  1849,  to  effect  any 
thing  in  favour  of  gradual  emancipation  in  Kentucky, 
together  with  a  thousand  other  signs,  extinguished 
that  hope  utterly.  On  the  question  of  liberty  as  a 
principle,  we  are  not  what  we  have  been.  When  we 
were  the  political  slaves  of  King  George  and  wanted 
to  be  free,  we  called  the  maxim  that  all  men  are  created 
equal  a  self-evident  truth ;  but  now  that  we  have  grown 
fat  and  have  lost  dread  of  being  slaves  ourselves,  we 
have  become  so  greedy  to  be  masters  that  we  call  the 
same  maxim  a  self-evident  lie.  That  spirit  which  de 
sired  the  peaceful  extinction  of  slavery  has  itself  be 
come  extinct  with  the  occasion,  and  the  men  of  the 
Revolution.  Under  the  impulse  of  that  occasion, 
nearly  half  the  States  adopted  systems  of  emancipa 
tion  at  once,  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  not  a 


THE  CLAY  AND  THE  POTTER   129 

single  State  has  done  the  like  since.  So  far  as  peaceful, 
voluntary  emancipation  is  concerned,  the  condition 
of  the  negro  slave  in  America,  scarcely  less  terrible  in 
the  contemplation  of  a  free  mind,  is  now  as  fixed  and 
hopeless  of  change  for  the  better  as  that  of  the  lost 
souls  of  the  finally  impenitent.  Our  political  problem 
now  is:  Can  we,  as  a  nation,  continue  together  per 
manently,  forever  half  slave  and  half  free?  The 
problem  is  too  mighty  for  me.  May  God,  in  His 
mercy,  superintend  the  solution. 

And  God  did  superintend  the  solution.  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  from  childhood  to  the  end  of  his 
wonderful  life,  was  under  the  direction  of  this 
superintendency.  The  progress  of  events  in  the 
years  that  preceded  the  Civil  War  as  well  as  the 
war  itself,  indicate  that  the  Almighty  was  directing 
affairs  and  sifting  out  the  agencies  through  which 
the  righteous  solution  was  to  be  obtained.  The 
formation  of  the  Republican  party,  and  its  early 
experiences  as  a  political  organization,  are  con 
spicuous  instances  of  the  divine  superintendency. 
Both  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  had  bowed 
the  knee  to  Baal.  The  slave  power  had  tightened 
its  grip.  Both  parties  had  temporized ;  but  tempor 
izing  at  such  a  time  was  but  the  strategy  by  which 
the  slave  party  advanced  its  lines  with  the  pur 
pose  of  gaining  control  of  the  Federal  Government 
and  capturing  the  country  for  its  system  of 


130  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

human  slavery.  The  opposing  forces  formed  the 
Republican  party,  and  in  1856  nominated  the 
''Pathfinder,"  John  C.  Fremont,  for  the  Presi 
dency.  It  seemed  to  the  Republicans  that,  unless 
they  succeeded  in  electing  Fremont,  the  cause  of 
freedom  was  lost.  And  yet,  how  foolish  is  the 
wisdom  of  man  as  viewed  by  the  God  of  nations! 
He  knew  that  the  country  was  not  ready  for  the 
final  test,  for  the  inevitable  uprooting  of  slavery. 
He  knew,  and  we  now  know,  that  it  was  best  for 
the  cause  of  freedom  that  the  path  of  the  "Path 
finder"  did  not  lead  to  the  White  House. 

The  period  of  preparation  was  not  yet  complete. 
Public  sentiment  was  not  ripe  for  the  elimination 
of  slavery.  Had  Fremont  won,  the  cause  of  free 
dom  would  probably  have  been  set  back  many 
decades.  While  Lincoln  had  united  his  fortunes 
with  those  of  the  new  party,  it  is  obvious  he 
realized  that  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe.  His  eyes 
were  looking  forward  to  the  contest  of  1860,  by 
which  time,  he  believed,  public  sentiment  would 
be  sufficiently  powerful  to  enable  the  party  of 
freedom  to  gain  control. 

The  preservation  of  the  Union  was  the  central 
thought  of  Lincoln,  and  around  this  thought  re 
volved  the  whole  system  of  his  political  faith.  He 
had  been  outspoken  in  his  declaration  that  the 


THE  CLAY  AND  THE  POTTER   131 

country  could  not  permanently  retain  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery,  because  he  knew  that  slavery  was 
immoral,  and  in  his  mind  and  heart  was  the  con 
sciousness  that  no  political  policy  founded  on 
immorality  could  endure.  The  Bible  was  the  text 
book  from  which  he  had  learned  that  even  an 
economic  policy  must  be  founded  upon  sound 
social  morality;  and  the  Bible  was  his  ultimate 
authority,  quoted  by  him  over  and  over  again,  for 
the  declaration  that  no  policy  that  comprehended 
the  retention  of  slavery  could  be  permanent. 

Lincoln  was  firm  in  the  belief  that  God  ordained 
this  Western  Republic,  founded  on  the  principle  of 
popular  government,  to  be  the  exemplar  of  human 
liberty  to  endure  through  the  ages.  Popular 
government,  therefore,  was  to  him  no  chimera,  no 
figment  of  superficial  thinkers,  no  mere  sentimental 
effervescence.  Hence  Lincoln  laid  it  down  as  a 
fundamental  and  paramount  principle  that  the 
Union  must  be  preserved  at  all  hazards.  To  that 
end  he  devoted  all  the  powers  of  his  great  heart 
and  brain,  sustained  by  the  unfaltering  faith  of  his 
exalted  spiritual  nature. 

How  wonderfully  Lincoln's  thought  attuned 
itself  to  the  Supreme  Director  of  the  impending 
conflict !  How  unerringly  he  discerned  the  Divine 
purpose,  and  how  accurately  he  squared  his  course 


132  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

with  the  plans  of  Providence!  The  leadership  of 
the  prairie  statesman,  viewed  from  any  angle, 
scrutinized  in  the  light  of  history,  stands  forth  a 
striking  illustration  of  a  leadership  God-led,  even 
in  the  smallest  details. 


CHAPTER  XV 

AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE 

IT  was  on  the  evening  of  February  27,  1860, 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  became  beyond  all  perad- 
venture  a  personality  of  national  proportions. 
The  fame  of  his  victory  two  years  earlier  over 
Douglas  had  made  Republicans  in  the  East  eager 
to  see  and  hear  the  man.  He  had  taken  such  high 
moral  ground  and  there  maintained  himself  against 
all  comers,  that  the  new  party  had  a  strong  con 
viction  that  at  least  his  counsel  would  be  useful 
in  making  up  the  party's  policy  in  the  campaign 
of  1860.  Of  the  score  or  more  of  eminent  Repub 
licans  in  the  East  who  joined  in  sending  Mr. 
Lincoln  the  invitation  to  speak  at  Cooper  Institute, 
only  two  or  three  knew  him  at  all  and  even  his 
name  was  unfamiliar  to  the  audience  in  general. 
Few  came  that  evening  expecting  to  hear  anything 
worth  while,  and  not  a  few  were  drawn  by  idle 
curiosity  or  rumours  of  his  uncouthness  or  power  to 
tell  fetching  stories.  The  impression  that  he  made 
that  night  has  fortunately  been  recorded  by  men 

133 


134  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

accustomed  to  weigh  men  as  well  as  measures  with 
discriminating  accuracy.  Major  George  Haven 
Putnam  says  he  was  but  a  boy  when  he  first  looked 
on  "the  gaunt  figure  of  the  man  who  was  to  be 
come  the  people's  leader"  and  that  he  was  at  once 
impressed  with  the  outstanding  fact  that  Mr. 
Lincoln's  "contentions  were  not  based  upon  in 
vective  or  abuse,  but  purely  on  considerations  of 
justice,  on  that  everlasting  principle  that  what  is 
just,  and  only  what  is  just,  represents  the  largest 
and  the  highest  interests  of  the  nation  as  a  whole." x 
The  late  Mr.  Choate  awhile  before  he  died 
pictured  Mr.  Lincoln's  appearance  substantially 
like  Major  Putnam  and  other  discerning  men,  who 
perceived  that  a  new  planet  had  swung  into  the 
murky  sky  of  public  life,  and  yet  recall  his  quaint- 
ness  to  an  audience  made  up  of  the  most  cultivated 
men  and  women  in  the  East.  On  his  long  un 
gainly  figure  clothes,  newly  made  for  the  trip,  but 
badly  wrinkled  on  the  way,  did  nothing  to  relieve 
the  obvious  embarrassment  of  his  first  moments. 
"His  deep  set  eyes  looked  sad  and  anxious,  his 
countenance  in  repose  gave  little  evidence" — says 
Mr.  Choate — "of  that  brain  power  which  had 
raised  him  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  station 
among  his  countrymen."  When  the  presiding 

1  George  Haven  Putnam,  Abraham  Lincoln,  47. 


AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE  135 

officer,  Mr.  William  Cullen  Bryant,  presented 
him,  the  audience  was  on  tiptoe  for  a  story-telling 
orator.  He  disappointed  them  by  dealing  seri 
ously  with  the  gravest  subject  then  before  Amer 
ica.  Everybody  soon  forgot  the  obtrusive  feet, 
the  clumsy  hands,  the  unruly  hair  no  brush  could 
ever  tame,  even  the  harsh  and  high-pitched  voice 
which  as  soon  as  he  was  safely  launched  into  his 
theme  grew  natural  and  pleasing  and  winning, 
as  his  entire  presence  became  as  dignified  and 
nobly  graceful  as  St.  Gaudens  has  represented  it 
in  his  heroic  statue  in  Chicago. 

By  sheer  simplicity  and  transparent  sincerity, 
with  eyes  shining  and  face  glowing  with  interest 
in  his  message,  Lincoln  played  at  will  upon  his 
audience  for  an  hour  and  a  half.  By  copious  his 
torical  proofs  and  masterly  logic  he  stood  there, 
the  mighty  man  he  was,  shattering  with  sledge 
hammer  blows  the  barricades  of  ignorance,  venal 
ity,  and  superstition,  demolishing  the  castles  of 
ancient  wrong  and  misinterpretation  of  the  Con 
stitution  ;  and  building  on  the  ruins  thereof  a  new 
and  glorious  temple  founded  on  divine  truth,  and 
dedicated  to  a  democracy  in  which 


None  shall  rule  but  the  humble, 
And  none  but  toil  shall  have. 


136  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

In  the  kindliest  spirit  he  protested  against  the 
avowed  threat  of  the  Southern  States  to  destroy 
the  Union  if  they  could  not  have  their  way  con 
cerning  slavery,  and  placed  the  whole  subject  in 
a  moral  and  religious  light  in  one  of  the  noblest 
passages  in  all  his  earlier  speeches : 

Wrong,  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  afford 
to  let  it  alone  where  it  is,  because  that  much  is  due  to 
the  necessity  arising  from  its  actual  presence  in  the 
nation;  but  can  we,  while  our  votes  will  prevent  it, 
allow  it  to  spread  into  the  national  Territories,  and  to 
overrun  us  here  in  these  free  States?  If  our  sense  of 
duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand  by  our  duty  fear 
lessly  and  effectively.  Let  us  be  diverted  by  none  of 
those  sophistical  contrivances  wherewith  we  are  so 
industriously  plied  and  belaboured, — contrivances  such 
as  groping  for  some  middle  ground  between  the  right 
and  the  wrong:  vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who 
should  be  neither  a  living  man,  nor  a  dead  man;  such 
as  a  policy  of  "don't  care"  about  which  all  true  men 
do  care;  such  as  Union  appeals  beseeching  true  Union 
men  to  yield  to  dis-Unionists,  reversing  the  divine 
rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sinners  but  the  righteous 
to  repentance. 

Then  in  unconscious  illustration  that  he  lived 
up  to  his  Christian  teaching,  he  turned  from  the 
honours  men  were  seeking  to  heap  on  him,  and 
making  his  way  through  the  slums,  where  it  was 


AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE  137 

not  safe  to  go  without  police  escort,  he  paid  a 
visit  on  Sunday  to  the  Five  Points  Mission  Sunday 
School,  as  thus  described  by  one  then  teaching 
there : 

Our  Sunday  School  in  the  Five  Points  was  as 
sembled  one  Sabbath  morning,  when  I  noticed  a  tall, 
remarkable  looking  man  enter  the  room  and  take  his 
seat  among  us.  He  listened  with  fixed  attention  to 
our  exercises,  and  his  countenance  expressed  such 
genuine  interest  that  I  approached  him  and  suggested 
that  he  might  be  willing  to  say  something  to  the 
children.  He  accepted  the  invitation  with  evident 
pleasure,  and  coming  forward,  began  a  simple  address 
which  at  once  fascinated  every  little  hearer  and  hushed 
the  room  to  silence.  His  language  was  strikingly 
beautiful,  and  his  tones  musical  with  intense  feeling. 
The  little  faces  around  him  would  droop  into  sad  con 
viction  as  he  uttered  sentences  of  warning,  and  would 
brighten  into  sunshine  as  he  spoke  cheerful  words  of 
promise.  Once  or  twice  he  attempted  to  close  his 
remarks,  but  the  imperative  shouts  of  "  Go  on !  O !  do 
go  on!"  would  compel  him  to  resume.  As  I  looked 
upon  the  gaunt  and  sinewy  form  of  the  stranger,  and 
marked  his  powerful  head  and  determined  features, 
now  touched  into  softness  by  the  expressions  of  the 
moment,  I  felt  an  irrepressible  curiosity  to  learn 
something  more  about  him,  and  when  he  was  quietly 
leaving  the  room,  I  begged  to  know  his  name.  He 
courteously  replied,  "It  is  Abraham  Lincoln,  from 
Illinois."1 

1  See  Carpenter's  Six  Months  in  the  White  House. 


138  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Erastus  Corning,  President  of  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad,  heard  that  speech  at  Cooper 
Institute.  To  him  it  revealed  the  keen  lawyer  as 
well  as  the  great  statesman.  Early  the  next  morn 
ing  he  was  at  the  Astor  House  where  Lincoln  was 
staying.  "Mr.  Lincoln,"  he  said,  "I  understand 
that  in  Illinois  you  win  all  your  law  suits. "  Laugh 
ing  softly  Lincoln  answered,  "Oh,  no,  Mr.  Corning, 
that  is  not  true;  but  I  do  make  it  a  rule  to  refuse 
cases  unless  I  am  convinced  the  litigant's  cause  is 
just."  "Mr.  Lincoln,"  came  the  inquiry,  "will 
you  entertain  an  offer  from  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  to  become  its  general  counsel  at  $10,000 
a  year?"  The  generous  offer  was  courteously 
declined  and  when  renewed  in  writing  after 
Lincoln  had  returned  to  Springfield,  it  was 
again  and  finally — after  prayerful  consideration- 
refused. 

Mr.  Lincoln  never  gave  the  real  reason  for 
resisting  a  temptation  few  ever  can  resist  of 
declining  to  accept  a  salary  out  of  all  propor 
tion  to  a  lawyer's  income  in  those  days.  We 
know  only  that  he  had  been  set  on  bringing 
righteousness  to  rule  in  the  country  that  he  loved, 
and  that  even  at  his  mother's  knee  he  had 
heard  the  voice  of  conscience  speaking  through 
the  Book  of  Books  to  him:  "Thou  shalt  wor- 


AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE  139 

ship   the   Lord   thy   God,    and   him  only   shalt 
thou  serve."1 

'This  conversation  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Erastus  Corning  is 
reported  by  Major  J.  B.  Merwin,  appointed  to  the  regular  army 
by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  Presidency. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  MAN   OF  THE  HOUR 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  nominated  for  President 
by  the  Republican  National  Convention  held  in 
the  Wigwam,  at  Chicago,  May  16  to  18, 1860.  The 
city  was  thronged  with  delegates  and  partisans 
of  their  favourites,  among  whom  were  Mr.  Bates, 
Mr.  Chase,  and  Mr.  Cameron.  Judge  Wilmot,  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  chosen  temporary  chairman, 
and  George  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  permanent 
chairman,  with  twenty-seven  vice-presidents  and 
twenty-five  secretaries.  The  Convention  assem 
bled  Wednesday,  May  16,  and  adopted  its  platform 
the  next  day.  On  the  first  ballot  Lincoln  received 
1 02  votes,  Seward  173,  and  the  rest  of  the  votes 
were  scattered.  The  second  ballot  showed  184^ 
for  Seward  to  181  for  Lincoln.  On  the  third 
ballot,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  230,  within  \Y^  of  a 
majority.  Vermont  had  been  divided  on  the  first 
ballot,  but  cast  her  full  strength,  ten  votes,  in  the 
third  for  "the  young  giant  of  the  West,"  as  the 
delegation  chairman  announced  amid  cheers  from 
the  Lincoln  adherents. 

140 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  HOUR  141 

When  the  third  ballot  showed  Lincoln  so  close 
to  the  nomination,  Mr.  Carter,  of  Ohio,  arose  and 
announced  to  the  Convention  that  Ohio  had  four 
more  votes  for  Lincoln,  giving  him  the  nomination. 
Other  changes  followed  until  the  third  ballot,  as 
officially  announced,  gave  Lincoln  354  votes.  On 
the  motion  of  Mr.  Evarts,  of  New  York,  the 
nomination  was  made  unanimous.  Thus  the 
backwoods  lad  of  Kentucky,  Indiana,  and  Illinois, 
grown  to  be  the  central  figure  in  American  politics, 
was  selected  candidate  for  President  of  the  United 
States. 

The  usual  committee  of  notification  was  ap 
pointed  to  wait  upon  Mr.  Lincoln.  Many,  if  not 
most  of  the  members  of  the  committee,  believed 
Lincoln's  nomination  to  be  a  mistake.  Most  of 
the  Eastern  delegates,  together  with  the  great 
political  leaders,  were  disposed  to  look  upon  Lin 
coln  as  the  creature  of  a  spasmodic  sentiment  on 
the  slavery  question,  destined,  even  if  elected,  to 
prove  that  his  choice  had  been  a  political  blunder. 
The  platform  upon  which  Lincoln  had  been  nomi 
nated  was  so  framed  as  not  to  permit  him  to  be 
carried  away  by  any  chimera,  even  if  he  had  been 
the  visionary  they  feared.  The  platform  declared 
the  preservation  of  the  Union  to  be  the  paramount 
issue,  and  assured  the  people  of  the  South  that 


142  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

there  was  no  intention  to  deprive  them  of  any 
property  they  possessed  under  the  Constitution. 
This  was  practically  the  position  upon  which 
Lincoln  had  conducted  his  former  campaigns;  and 
he  was  nominated  and  elected,  not  as  one  who 
was  to  destroy  slavery  as  an  institution,  but  as 
one  who  would  not  consent  to  the  extension  of 
slavery,  and  who  would,  at  any  cost,  preserve  the 
Union. 

The  Republican  platform  shows  up  in  its  true 
light  when  set  over  against  the  platforms  of  the 
opposition.  At  first  blush,  it  seems  to  fall  short 
of  the  demands  of  the  hour  and  to  be  less  than 
might  reasonably  have  been  expected  as  the  fight 
ing  platform  of  one  who  had  championed  the  cause 
of  the  black  man  so  often  and  for  so  long.  The 
following  synopsis  will  reveal  the  lines  of  cleavage 
between  the  three  leading  presidential  platforms. 
The  Republicans  and  Mr.  Lincoln  believed : 

1.  That  slavery  must  not  be  extended  into  the 
territories,  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  Congress  to 
exclude  it  therefrom  by  positive  legislation. 

2.  That  it  was  not  right  to  interfere  with  slavery 
in  territory  in  which  it  then  existed. 

3.  That  it  was  right  to  protect  all  persons  in  the  ex 
ercise  of  their  constitutional  rights.     This  was  meant 
as  assurance  to  the  South  that  their  slaves  would  not 
be  taken  away  from  them. 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  HOUR  143 

The  Douglas  Democrats  believed: 

1 .  That  the  people  of  the  territories  had  the  right 
to  decide  for  themselves  whether  or  not  slavery  should 
come  among  them. 

2.  That  they  had  the  right  to  enact  legislation, 
through  their  territorial  legislatures,  to  make  such 
decisions  binding  alike  upon  them  and  the  country  at 
large. 

The  Breckinridge  Democrats  believed : 

1.  That   slavery   was   sound   in   morals   and   in 
economics. 

2.  That  the  Congress  should  protect  slavery  in 
the  territories  by  specific  legislation. 

3.  That  the  Congress  should  protect  slavery  in  the 
territories  by  specific  prohibition  of  territorial  legisla 
tures  against  interfering  with  it. 

Mr.  Lincoln  faced  a  great  responsibility  as  the 
nominee  of  the  Republican  party — greater,  indeed, 
than  was  then  supposed.  Shortly  after  his  nomi 
nation  he  wrote  George  Ashmun,  Chairman  of  the 
Republican  convention,  as  follows : 

"SIR: 

I  accept  the  nomination  tendered  me  by  the  Con 
vention  over  which  you  presided,  of  which  I  am  form 
ally  apprised  in  a  letter  of  yourself  and  others  acting 
as  a  Committee  for  the  Convention  for  that  purpose. 
The  declaration  of  principles  and  sentiments  which 


144  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

accompanies  your  letter  meets  my  approval,  and  it 
shall  be  my  care  not  to  violate  it  or  disregard  it  in  any 
part.  Imploring  the  assistance  of  Divine  Providence, 
and  with  due  regard  for  the  views  and  feelings  of  all 
who  were  represented  in  the  Convention,  to  the  rights 
of  all  the  States  and  Territories  and  people  of  the 
Nation,  to  the  inviolability  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
perpetual  union,  harmony,  and  prosperity  of  all,  I  am 
most  happy  to  co-operate  for  the  practical  success  of 
the  principles  declared  by  the  Convention. 

Your  obliged  friend  and  fellow  citizen, 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


To  follow  Lincoln  through  the  Presidential 
canvass  of  1860  would  swell  this  volume  beyond 
its  intended  scope.  After  the  most  exciting  cam 
paign  in  the  history  of  the  country,  he  was  found 
to  be  elected  by  a  strong  plurality,  though  the 
combined  vote  of  all  the  other  candidates  was 
nearly  a  million  in  excess  of  the  vote  for  Mr. 
Lincoln,  who  received  1,857,610;  Breckinridge, 
847,953;  Bell,  590,631.  In  the  Electoral  College, 
Mr.  Lincoln  received  all  the  votes  of  the  Free 
States  except  New  Jersey,  which  gave  him  four 
and  Mr.  Douglas  three.  Mr.  Breckinridge  re 
ceived  the  electoral  votes  of  all  the  Slave  States 
except  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia,  which 
voted  for  Bell,  and  Missouri,  which  voted  for 
Douglas. 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  HOUR  145 

What,  then,  had  been  achieved  by  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency?  To  the  Abolition 
ists  he  was  not  radical  enough,  and  did  not  forth 
with  declare  his  intention  to  free  the  slaves. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  slave  power  knew  that 
Mr.  Lincoln's  election  spelled  the  doom  of  their 
schemes  for  extending  slavery  into  free  territory, 
and  meant  the  ultimate  relegation  of  slavery  into 
oblivion.  Yet  Lincoln  had  never  formulated  a 
political  programme  that  comprehended  more  than 
the  prevention  of  slavery's  extension.  He  be 
lieved  that  the  Federal  Constitution  preserved 
inviolate  the  possession  of  slaves  in  the  slave 
States.  His  cardinal  principle  was:  "Preserve 
the  Union;  preserve  it  free,  if  necessary;  but  at 
all  hazards,  preserve  it." 

Mr.  Lincoln  stood  for  law  and  order,  for  obey 
ing  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  for  faithfulness 
to  any  organic  or  statute  law  existing;  but  he  also 
stood  for  the  authority  of  the  general  government 
in  all  matters  pertaining  to  national  affairs,  be 
lieving  that  slavery  was  properly  a  federal  question 
and  that  the  Government  at  Washington  should  take 
cognizance  of  it  at  all  times.  Therefore,  the  slave 
power  argued  that  Lincoln  would  be  in  favour  of  so 
amending  the  Constitution  as  to  eliminate  slavery 
altogether.  The  people  south  of  Mason's  and 


146  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Dixon's  Line  insisted  upon  the  rights  of  the  States 
to  regulate  slavery  and  all  other  affairs  that  did  not 
affect  directly  the  general  government.  States 
Rights  had  become  a  sort  of  fetich  with  the  South ; 
but  it  was  not  States  Rights  per  se  that  appealed 
to  them  so  powerfully.  It  was  their  desire  to 
retain  slavery;  for  slavery  was  the  black  thread 
woven  into  their  daily  lives,  their  social  relations, 
their  state  affairs,  and  gave  a  sombre  colour  to  their 
attitude  toward  the  general  government. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  election  was  the  triumph  of  the 
theory  of  a  strong  central  government  and  an  in 
separable  union  of  the  States,  against  the  Southern 
theory,  held  also  by  many  in  the  North,  of  a 
federation  of  States  dwelling  together  in  unity, 
but  each  preserving  its  autonomy,  with  freedom 
to  depart  at  any  time  from  the  Union.  The  one 
involved  the  idea  of  the  right  of  the  central 
government  to  prevent  by  force,  if  necessary,  any 
State  from  leaving  the  Union.  The  other  involved 
the  idea  of  a  loose  federation  of  States,  each  hav 
ing  the  right  to  go  out  at  will. 

What  a  momentous  day,  then,  when  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  named  by  that  Wigwam  Convention ! 
What  another  momentous  day  when  he  was  tri 
umphantly  elected!  It  was  the  beginning  of  a 
contest  that  was  to  settle  for  all  time  the 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  HOUR  147 

questions  in  controversy,  and  to  prove  that  the 
Union  was  "One  and  indissoluble,  now  and  for 
ever." 

In  the  midst  of  these  tremendous  happenings, 
thrust  into  the  prominence  of  world  politics, 
Abraham  Lincoln  retained  his  simplicity.  Re 
verting  to  the  time  when  the  Committee  came  to 
him  in  Springfield  to  notify  him  of  his  nomination 
for  President,  the  moral  power  of  the  man  stood 
forth  when,  contrary  to  custom,  he  emphasized 
his  personal  abstinence  from  intoxicants.  Frank 
B.  Carpenter,  in  his  Six  Months  at  the  White 
House,  says  that,  after  the  ceremony  of  notification 
had  ended,  Mr.  Lincoln  remarked  to  the  company 
that  he  presumed  good  manners  would  require 
that  he  should  treat  them  to  something  to  drink, 
as  an  appropriate  conclusion  to  an  interview  so 
important  and  interesting  as  that  which  had  just 
taken  place.  Opening  a  door  that  led  to  a  room 
in  the  rear,  he  called  out,  "Mary,  Mary."  A  girl 
responded  to  the  call,  to  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke 
a  few  words  in  an  undertone,  closed  the  door,  and 
returned  to  converse  with  his  guests.  The  maid 
soon  returned  bearing  a  large  tray  containing 
several  glass  tumblers  and  a  pitcher,  and  placed 
it  on  the  centre  table.  Mr.  Lincoln  arose,  and 
gravely  addressing  the  company,  said : 


148  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

"  Gentlemen,  we  must  pledge  our  mutual  health  in 
the  most  healthful  beverage  God  has  given  to  man. 
It  is  the  only  beverage  I  have  ever  used  or  allowed  in 
my  family,  and  I  cannot  conscientiously  depart  from 
it  on  the  present  occasion.  It  is  pure  Adam's  ale, 
just  from  the  spring." 

Taking  a  tumbler,  he  touched  it  to  his  lips  and 
pledged  them  his  highest  respects  in  a  cup  of  cold 
water.  All  his  guests  admired  his  consistency 
and  good-naturedly  followed  his  example. x 

rln  the  Christian  Advocate,  February  6, 1919,  appears  at  last  the 
affidavit,  documents,  and  data  of  the  late  Maj.  James  B.  Merwin, 
who  died  April  5,  1917,  concerning  the  attitude  toward  prohibi 
tion  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  his  intimate  from  1855  to  1865.  Lincoln 
seems  to  have  spoken  in  1855  in  the  interests  of  prohibition  and 
even  to  have  drawn  up  the  prohibition  law  passed  that  year  by 
the  Illinois  Legislature  and  submitted  to  the  voters,  who  failed 
however  to  approve  it.  It  is  solemnly  significant  that  as  Maj. 
Merwin  was  talking  with  the  President  a  few  hours  before  the 
assassination,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  to  him  according  to  affidavit: 
"  Merwin,  we  have  cleaned  up  a  colossal  job.  We  have  abolished 
slavery.  The  next  great  movement  will  be  the  overthrow  of  the 
legalized  liquor  traffic,  and  you  know  my  heart  and  my  hand, 
my  purse  and  my  life  will  be  given  to  that  great  movement.  I 
prophesied  twenty-five  years  ago  that  the  day  would  come  when 
there  would  not  be  a  slave  or  drunkard  in  the  land.  I  have  seen 
the  first  part  come  true." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

PROPHETIC   VISIONS 

THE  cause  of  freedom  having  won  its  first  con 
spicuous  victory,  its  adherents  throughout  the 
country  were  rejoicing.  But  to  Abraham  Lincoln, 
his  election  to  the  Presidency  was  not  an  occasion 
for  complacency  or  light-hearted  congratulation. 
The  vast  responsibility  involved  in  his  new  relation 
was  so  interwoven  with  the  weal  of  the  nation, 
and,  indeed,  with  the  destiny  of  popular  govern 
ment,  that  he  could  not  regard  it  other  than  a 
divinely  imposed  mission  requiring  patience,  sin 
cerity,  courage,  and  dependence  for  help  upon 
Almighty  God.  Contemplating  the  task  awaiting 
him  in  the  White  House,  fully  realizing  the  weighty 
responsibility  resting  on  him,  it  is  little  wonder 
that  the  magnitude  of  the  burden  he  was  soon  to 
bear  caused  him  to  be  known  as  "the  saddest  man 
who  ever  occupied  the  White  House." 

The  mystic  element  of  Lincoln's  nature  was 
stirred  mightily  by  his  call  to  the  epochal  task. 
Always  sensitive  to  the  power  of  the  unseen,  it  is 

149 


150  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

not  strange  that,  as  he  stood  on  the  threshold  of 
a  future  pregnant  with  perplexity,  there  came  to 
him  a  waking  vision  thus  described  by  Noah 
Brooks,  who  writes  in  his  Life  of  Lincoln  that  he 
received  it  from  the  President  himself : 


"It  was  just  after  my  election  in  i860,  when  the 
news  was  coming  thick  and  fast  all  day,  and  there  had 
been  a  great  '  Hurrah,  Boys,'  so  that  I  was  well  tired 
out,  and  went  home  to  rest,  and  threw  myself  on  a 
lounge  in  my  chamber.  Opposite  where  I  lay,  was  a 
bureau  with  a  swinging  glass  upon  it,  and  looking  into 
the  glass  I  saw  myself  reflected,  nearly  at  full  length, 
but  my  face,  I  noticed,  had  two  separate  and  distinct 
images,  the  tip  of  the  nose  of  one  being  about  three 
inches  from  the  tip  of  the  other.  I  was  a  little  both 
ered,  perhaps  startled,  and  got  up  and  looked  in  the 
glass,  but  the  illusion  vanished.  On  lying  down  again, 
I  saw  it  a  second  time,  plainer,  if  possible,  than  before. 
Then  I  noticed  that  one  of  the  faces  was  a  little  paler, 
say  five  shades,  than  the  other.  I  got  up  and  the 
thing  melted  away,  and  I  went  off  and  in  the  excite 
ment  of  the  hour  forgot  all  about  it,  nearly,  but  not 
quite,  for  the  thing  would  once  in  a  while  come  up  and 
give  me  a  little  pang,  as  though  something  uncom 
fortable  had  happened.  Later  in  the  day,  I  told  my 
wife  about  it,  and  a  few  days  later  I  tried  the  experi 
ment  again,  when  sure  enough,  the  thing  came  again, 
but  I  never  succeeded  in  bringing  the  ghost  back  after 
that,  though  I  once  tried  very  industriously  to  show 
it  to  my  wife,  who  was  worried  about  it  somewhat. 
She  thought  that  it  was  a  sign  that  I  was  to  be  elected 


PROPHETIC  VISIONS  151 

to  a  second  term  of  office,  and  that  the  paleness  of  one 
of  the  faces  was  an  omen  that  I  should  not  see  life 
through  the  last  term." 

Lincoln  at  different  times  in  his  life  had  received 
other  impressions  that  he  would,  some  day,  be 
the  victim  of  a  tragedy.  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  un 
doubtedly  become  familiar  with  the  mystic  phase 
of  her  husband's  nature,  and  worried  over  the 
portent.  The  vision  was  quite  as  definite  as 
many  that  came  to  the  prophets  of  Holy  Writ, 
giving  warning  of  coming  events;  but  as  the 
Hebrew  prophets  persisted  in  the  work  to  which 
they  had  been  dedicated,  whether  the  omens  boded 
good  or  ill  to  themselves,  so  this  seer  of  the  crucial 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  God-illumi 
nated  as  they  were,  ignored  all  personal  danger  and 
entered  fearlessly  upon  his  perilous  task. 

Lincoln's  prophetic  insight,  so  frequently  mani 
fested,  accounts  in  large  measure  for  the  subtle, 
intangible,  pervasive,  ever  enlarging  influence  of 
his  personality  upon  the  minds  of  men.  He  has 
grown  more  during  the  years  that  have  followed 
his  martyrdom  than  any  other  man  in  history. 
Others,  prophets  and  martyrs,  have  often  had  to 
wait  for  centuries  for  full  recognition;  but,  even 
now,  while  men  still  live  who  felt  the  grasp  of  his 
hand,  his  fame  is  world-wide. 


152  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

The  thought  that  appeals  specially  to  the  hearts 
of  men  is  that  he  was  here  as  a  prophet  of  the  Most 
High  on  a  divine  mission,  creating  an  epoch  in 
which  he  towers  as  the  most  conspicuous  figure. 
He  belonged  to  the  class  of  men  who  have  won  in 
consecrated  service  the  crown  of  enduring  fame. 
It  was  not  his  statesmanship  alone  that  keeps 
his  memory  great,  nor  his  oratory,  nor  his  gift 
of  boundless  common  sense,  nor  even  his  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  freedom ;  it  was  not  merely  because 
he  was  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  Republic  during 
the  stormiest  period  of  its  history,  and  directed  it 
skilfully  and  successfully  through  the  most  terrific 
civil  war  ever  waged.  We  must  look  deeper  than 
his  words,  deeper  than  his  deeds,  to  find  the  real 
source  of  his  power.  In  any  age,  the  man  who 
discerns  and  appropriates  the  divine  purpose  pro 
jected  through  history  is  lifted  into  immortality 
through  the  power,  the  sweep,  the  grandeur  of  that 
purpose.  The  purpose  which  Lincoln  grasped  and 
embodied  was  interwoven  with  the  spiritual  text 
ure  of  his  nature  and  lifted  him  above  the  levels 
of  the  ordinary. 

The  career  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  incar 
nated  expression  of  the  divine  idea  of  human 
liberty  and  equal  opportunity  for  all,  rooted  in  the 
ground  of  common  humanity.  Throughout  his 


PROPHETIC  VISIONS  153 

whole  career,  in  the  White  House  no  less  than  in  his 
father's  cabin,  on  the  farm,  in  the  humble  lawyer's 
cottage  at  Springfield,  in  the  courts  of  law,  on  the 
political  rostrum,  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  he  was 
ever  the  plain  and  unassuming  citizen,  kindly 
neighbour,  advocate  of  the  poor,  counsellor  of  the 
widow — always  the  devout  servitor  of  his  fel 
low  man,  a  Heaven-inspired  guide  in  times  of 
perplexity  and  peril. 

In  the  order  of  Providence  he  came,  uncouth 
and  unceremonious — a  strange,  mysterious  man 
from  the  tangled  forests  and  interminable  prairies 
of  the  frontier.  He  appeared  upon  the  stage  of 
affairs  with  the  simplicity  which  is  the  expression 
of  true  majesty.  In  his  presence,  the  most  con 
spicuous  men  of  his  time  dwindled  into  compara 
tive  insignificance,  while  he  demonstrated  the 
glory  of  American  democracy,  and,  by  his  devo 
tion  to  the  Constitution  and  the  flag,  preserved 
the  Union  and  emancipated  the  slaves,  thus  mak 
ing  his  name  the  synonym — the  enshrined  reality, 
as  religious  as  it  is  practical — of  all  the  concealed 
and  revealed  meaning  of  Americanism. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

GUARDING  THE  CITADEL 

MR.  LINCOLN  was  not  ignorant  of  the  critical 
condition  into  which  the  country  had  drifted,  nor 
was  he  panic-stricken.  During  the  months  after 
his  election,  and  before  his  inauguration,  he  studied 
the  situation  from  every  standpoint  and  took  such 
measures  as  he  could  to  meet  the  emergencies  he 
would  have  to  face  when  clothed  with  the  authority 
to  act.  He  conducted  a  voluminous  correspond 
ence  with  trusted  men  of  prominence  throughout 
the  country,  whose  sympathy  and  co-operation 
he  sought  in  the  solution  of  the  problems  which 
awaited  him.  His  temper,  firmness,  and  deter 
mination  are  sufficiently  revealed  in  his  corre 
spondence  with  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne,  a  warm 
friend  of  Lincoln's,  and  Congressman  from  Illinois. 
In  a  letter  of  December  13,  1860,  he  wrote: 

Your  long  letter  received.  Prevent,  so  far  as 
possible,  any  of  our  friends  from  demoralizing  them 
selves  and  our  cause  by  entertaining  propositions 
for  compromise  of  any  sort  on  the  slavery  question. 

154 


GUARDING  THE  CITADEL          155 

There  is  no  possible  compromise  upon  it  but  which 
puts  us  under  again,  and  leaves  us  to  do  all  our  work 
over  again.  Whether  it  be  a  Missouri  line  or  Eli 
Thayer's  Popular  Sovereignty,  it  is  all  the  same.  Let 
either  be  done,  and  immediately  filibustering  and 
extending  slavery,  recommence.  On  that  point  hold 
firm  as  with  a  chain  of  steel. 

Eight  days  later,  he  wrote  again  to  Washburne: 

Last  night  I  received  your  letter,  giving  an  account 
of  your  interview  with  Gen.  Scott,  and  for  which  I 
thank  you.  Please  present  my  respects  to  the  General, 
and  tell  him,  confidentially,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  him 
to  be  as  well  prepared  as  he  can  either  to  hold  or  re 
take  the  forts  as  the  case  may  require,  at  and  after 
the  inauguration. 

Thus  was  Lincoln  manifesting  the  "firmness  and 
determination,  without  the  temper  of  Jackson," 
as  an  intimate  friend  aptly  said.  He  knew  he 
was  succeeding  to  the  office  of  President,  rendered 
as  nearly  impotent  as  plotters  in  places  of  power 
could  make  it.  He  was  aware  that  the  erstwhile 
strong  arm  of  the  Federal  Government  was  now  as 
weak  and  helpless  as  plotting  custodians  in  charge 
of  the  public  interest  had  been  able  to  make  it.  If 
the  Ship  of  State  had  not  been  scuttled  and  sunk 
it  was  through  no  lack  of  mean  contriving  of  the 
plotters. 

Lincoln  further  knew  that  his  life  would  prob- 


156  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

ably  pay  the  forfeit,  if  he  wrought  to  stem  the  tide 
of  secession  and  to  save  the  Union,  which  he  was 
already  declaring  to  be  his  paramount  purpose. 
Yet  amid  these  portentous  clouds,  even  then 
lurid  with  the  approaching  storm,  he  could  calmly 
say  to  his  friends  on  departing  from  Springfield: 
"We  cannot  fail,  if  God  shall  help  us."  The  man 
of  God  was  speaking. 

Under  the  weight  of  all  but  killing  responsi 
bilities,  Lincoln's  religious  character  grew  day  by 
day.  No  President  ever  faced  a  situation  of 
greater  difficulty,  of  deeper  discouragement.  "I 
am  driven  to  my  knees,"  he  said,  "because  there 
is  nowhere  else  to  go."  The  Ship  of  State  was 
plunging  in  a  raging  storm  with  hidden  reefs  on 
every  hand  and  men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear. 
A  deep-laid  conspiracy  against  the  Union  and  also 
against  Lincoln's  life  was  already  hatched.  His 
predecessor,  a  weak  and  vacillating  man,  had 
brought  about,  with  scarcely  a  word  of  protest, 
the  disintegration  of  the  army.  A  majority  of 
Buchanan's  cabinet  sympathized  with  the  South. 
The  Congress  was  dominated  by  men  who  wilfully 
betrayed  their  country  by  permitting  the  critical 
moments  to  pass  without  making  any  provision 
for  the  protection  of  the  Union  against  those  who 
plotted  its  destruction. 


GUARDING  THE  CITADEL          157 

Buchanan  refused  to  permit  the  strengthening 
of  the  forts  at  Charleston,  a  measure  which  might 
have  restrained  the  South  from  plunging  the  Na 
tion  into  Civil  War.  During  the  four  months 
between  the  time  of  Lincoln's  election  and  his  in 
auguration,  the  conspirators  resorted  to  every  pos 
sible  device  to  overthrow  the  Government.  Lewis 
Cass,  Secretary  of  State,  resigned  on  December 
12,  1860,  because  President  Buchanan  refused 
to  fortify  the  forts  of  Charleston  Harbor.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  who,  as 
Buchanan's  Attorney-General,  had  handed  down 
the  opinion  that  the  Federal  Government  had  not 
the  power  to  coerce  a  seceding  State. 

Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  afterwards  a  general  in  the  Con 
federate  army,  "managed  to  destroy  the  credit  of 
the  Government,  and  when,  on  December  loth,  he 
resigned  because  his  duty  to  Georgia  required  it, 
he  left  the  Treasury  empty." 

John  B.  Floyd,  Secretary  of  War,  and  soon  to 
be  a  general  in  the  Southern  army,  "before  he  re 
signed,  partly  disarmed  the  free  States  and  sent 
the  soldiers  belonging  to  the  Regular  Army  so  far 
away  as  not  to  be  available  until  the  conspirators 
should  have  time  to  consummate  the  revolution." 

Isaac  Toucy,  of  Connecticut,  Secretary  of  the 


158  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Navy  under  Buchanan,  scattered  the  Federal 
ships  to  distant  seas,  and  left  the  Government 
without  a  navy. 

So  bold  were  the  secessionists  that  they  actually 
planned  to  prevent  Lincoln's  inauguration,  and  to 
surrender  the  Capitol  and  public  archives  to  the 
insurgents.  But  for  the  loyal  old  General  Scott, 
who  had  won  his  spurs  a  half  century  before, 
treason  would  have  had  its  way,  and  to  oppose  it 
the  aged  warrior  had  only  a  small  and  questionable 
army.  Buchanan  was  clay  in  the  hands  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  Cobb,  Toombs,  and  their  disloyal  asso 
ciates.  The  Government  was  in  the  power  of 
conspirators  who  were  plotting  its  overthrow. 
Treasonable  messages  were  actually  sent  back  and 
forth  between  the  desks  of  high  officials.  In  the 
Congress  and  the  Cabinet  alike,  conspirators  were 
boldly  carrying  on  their  schemes  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  Government.  No  attempt  was  made 
to  interfere,  much  less  to  arrest  open  and  avowed 
traitors. 

A  stronger  combination  of  difficulties  could 
scarcely  be  imagined  than  that  which  confronted 
Abraham  Lincoln.  The  treasury  was  empty. 
The  trees  were  yet  growing,  the  iron  yet  unmined, 
with  which  a  navy  was  to  be  built  and  armoured. 
Such  army  as  there  was,  was  widely  scattered. 


GUARDING  THE  CITADEL          159 

Officers  without  discipline  were  set  the  task  of 
making  a  mere  mob  into  an  army.  Public  opinion 
in  Europe,  tampered  with  by  specious  arguments 
of  treason  or  affected  by  our  home  despondency, 
was  either  contemptuously  skeptical  or  actively 
hostile.  To  ensure  neutrality  abroad  there  was 
on  this  side  the  handicap  of  a  Chief  Magistrate 
hampered  at  every  turn  by  a  reputation  still  un 
made  as  national  executive,  nominal  supporters 
who  doubted  his  ability,  social  leaders  who  ridi 
culed  his  manners,  and  an  unscrupulous  minority 
playing  into  hostile  hands  at  every  turn  and  greet 
ing  every  incidental  error  with  "I  told  you  so." 

"That  a  steady  purpose  and  divine  aim,"  wrote 
Mr.  Lowell  in  1864,  "were  given  to  the  jarring  forces 
which,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  spent  themselves 
in  the  discussion  of  schemes  which  could  only  become 
operative,  if  at  all,  after  the  war  was  over;  that 
a  peculiar  excitement  was  slowly  intensified  into 
an  earnest  national  will;  that  the  treason  of  covert 
enemies,  the  jealousy  of  rivals,  the  unwise  zeal  of 
friends  were  made  not  only  useless  for  mischief,  but 
even  useful  for  good ;  that  the  conscientious  sensitive 
ness  of  England  to  the  horrors  of  civil  conflict  was 
prevented  from  complicating  a  domestic  with  a  foreign 
war;  all  these  results,  any  one  of  which  might  suffice  to 
prove  the  greatness  of  a  ruler,  were  mainly  due  to  the 
good  sense,  the  good  humour,  the  sagacity,  the  large- 
mindedness,  and  the  unselfish  honesty  of  the  unknown 


160  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

man  whom  a  blind  fortune,  as  it  seemed,  had  lifted 
from  the  crowd  to  the  most  dangerous  and  difficult 
eminence  of  modern  times. 

"It  is  by  the  presence  of  mind  in  untried  emer 
gencies  that  the  native  mettle  of  a  man  is  tested.  It 
is  by  the  sagacity  to  see,  and  the  fearless  honesty  to 
admit,  whatever  of  truth  there  may  be  in  an  adverse 
opinion,  in  order  more  convincingly  to  expose  the 
fallacy  that  lurks  behind  it,  that  a  reasoner  at  length 
gains  for  his  mere  statement  of  fact  the  force  of 
argument. 

"It  is  by  a  wise  forecast,  which  allows  hostile  com 
binations  to  go  as  far  as,  by  the  inevitable  reaction,  to 
become  elements  of  his  own  power,  that  a  politician 
proves  his  genius  for  statecraft,  and  especially  it  is  by 
so  gently  guiding  public  sentiment  that  he  seems  to 
follow  it,  by  so  yielding  doubtful  points  that  he  can  be 
firm  without  seeming  obstinate  in  essential  ones,  and 
thus  gain  the  advantages  of  compromise  without  the 
weakness  of  concession,  by  so  instinctively  compre 
hending  the  temper  and  prejudices  of  a  people  as  to 
make  them  gradually  conscious  of  the  superior  wisdom 
of  his  freedom  from  temper  and  prejudice — it  is  by 
qualities  such  as  these  that  a  magistrate  shows  him 
self  worthy  to  be  chief  in  the  commonwealth  of  free 
dom  ;  and  it  is  for  qualities  such  as  these  that  we  firmly 
believe  that  history  will  rank  Mr.  Lincoln  among  the 
most  prudent  of  statesmen  and  the  most  successful 
of  rulers." 

Thus  does  Mr.  Lowell  analyze  the  situation, 
divine  the  forces,  and  characterize  the  man  of 
1861.  And  then  in  final  explanation  of  Lincoln's 


GUARDING  THE  CITADEL          161 

ultimate  success  he  frankly  says  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  a  man  of  faith. ' 

As  though  to  leave  no  room  to  question  his 
supreme  test  of  Lincoln's  character,  Mr.  Lowell 
some  months  later,  in  his  "Ode  Recited  at  the  Har 
vard  Commemoration,"  places  this  wreath  on  the 
grave  of  him  who  meanwhile  had  passed  out  of  life : 

"Wise,  steadfast  in  the  strength  of  God,  and  true." 

'James  Russell  Lowell,  in  The  North  American  Review,  January, 
1864. 


XIX 

AWAKING  A  CONTINENT 

IT  is  worthy  of  note  that  epochal  political  move 
ments  have  been  preceded  by  profound  and  far- 
reaching  spiritual  awakenings.  Sordidness  had 
come  to  govern  the  progress  of  events  in  the  United 
States.  Property  rights  had  gained  the  ascend 
ancy.  Wealth  and  money-getting  was  the  prime 
desideratum.  The  augmentation  of  the  slave  power, 
chiefly  through  its  masterful  statesman,  John  C. 
Calhoun  had  well-nigh  achieved  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  the  cause  of  human  slavery. 

The  individual  conscience  of  the  average  man 
in  the  North  as  well  as  in  the  South,  seemed  cor 
roded  by  the  insidious  influences  of  commercialism. 
Religion  here,  as  in  England  before  the  time  of  the 
Wesleys,  had  become  formal,  retaining  the  letter 
without  the  spirit. 

Lincoln's  appeal  to  the  moral  sentiment  of  the 
nation  began  slowly  to  arouse  a  slumbering  Chris 
tendom  by  appealing  to  conscience,  exposing  na 
tional  apostasy,  turning  the  light  of  truth  upon 

162 


AWAKING  A  CONTINENT  163 

the  monstrous  crime  of  slavery,  and  condensing 
into  a  few  words  a  moral  maxim  which  demon 
strated  the  impossibility  of  the  continued  exist 
ence  of  freedom  and  servitude  under  the  same 
flag. 

Silently,  like  the  pervasion  of  the  sunshine  in  the 
springtime,  there  spread  across  the  land  a  wave  of 
moral  fervour,  a  spiritual  awakening,  a  religious 
revival  such  as  the  nation  had  never  known — an 
event  which  has  been  strangely  overlooked  by  the 
writers  of  history.  A  careful  reading  of  two-score 
works  upon  the  events  of  that  time  fails  to  reveal 
the  full  significance  of  this  phenomenal  spiritual 
awakening  in  the  solution  of  the  vexatious  prob 
lems  of  the  day.  In  fact,  the  whole  nation  was 
beginning,  perhaps  vaguely  and  unconsciously,  to 
feel  the  spiritual  forces  Lincoln  had  set  in  motion. 
East  and  West  the  hearts  of  men  were  already 
responding  to  his  touch. 

In  1857  a  small  group  of  business  men  began  a 
series  of  Noonday  Prayer  Meetings  in  Fulton 
Street,  New  York.  There  was  no  bishop,  no 
preacher,  no  leader.  No  Dwight  L.  Moody  was 
yet  prepared  to  lend  the  power  of  his  great  name 
to  the  movement.  No  one  stood  forth  more 
prominently  than  another.  A  company  of  men, 
hitherto  absorbed  in  business  down  in  the  storm 


164  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

centre  of  the  business  life  of  the  Metropolis,  became 
strongly  convinced  that  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
Church  was  rapidly  becoming  extinct,  and  that  as 
a  result,  the  nation  was  losing  its  virility,  its  moral 
vigour  and  its  power.  They  felt,  therefore,  that  a 
spiritual  awakening  was  essential  to  the  preserva 
tion  of  America  itself. 

It  is  not  evident  that  they  realized  the  relation 
to  the  national  life  of  the  movement  in  which  they 
were  engaged.  Apparently,  they  thought  of  their 
noonday  gatherings  merely  as  a  means  whereby 
they  themselves  might  be  strengthened  in  religious 
faith  and  endowed  with  renewed  spiritual  fervour. 
Evidently,  they  did  not  understand  that  their 
aspirations  were  but  a  part  of  a  religious  awaken 
ing  which  was  preparing  for  the  mighty  conflagra 
tion  that  was  to  purge  the  nation  of  its  "sum  of 
all  villainies" — the  traffic  in  human  slaves.  Day 
after  day  the  noon  meetings  continued.  Soon 
the  room  in  which  they  were  held  was  overtaxed. 
Overflow  meetings  were  arranged.  Civic  issues 
were  not  specially  discussed.  The  slavery  question 
received  the  same  casual  consideration  as  the  tariff 
and  the  currency.  These  business  men  simply 
besought  the  throne  of  grace  for  help — for  the  need 
they  felt  of  the  refining  fire  in  their  own  hearts. 
Their  cry  was  that  of  the  ancient  prophet:  "Wilt 


AWAKING  A  CONTINENT  165 

Thou  not  revive  us  again,  that  Thy  people  may 
rejoice  in  Thee?" 

But  a  humble  lawyer  out  in  the  Middle  West 
was  seeing  farther  into  the  future,  lifting  up  a 
moral  standard  to  which,  as  Washington  had  said 
before,  "the  wise  and  honest  could  repair,"  satu 
rating  public  matters  with  a  spirituality  of  which 
no  one  had  perceived  that  there  was  need.  Deep 
was  calling  unto  deep.  Fire  was  running  to  meet 
fire.  Quietly  started  in  New  York,  the  spiritual 
flame  was  sweeping  from  house  to  house,  from 
church  to  church,  from  city  to  city,  from  state 
to  state,  from  ocean  unto  ocean,  gathering  in  force, 
augmenting  in  influence,  growing  irresistible. 
Multitudes  who  knew  not  God  through  a  vital 
religious  faith  joined  in  the  new  evangel.  Em 
ployers  excused  their  employees  at  early  hours 
that  they  might  attend  the  meetings;  merchants 
urged  their  clerks  to  go;  professional  men  sent 
their  office  forces;  parents  urged  their  children; 
colleges  and  day  schools  sent  their  pupils.  The 
churches  of  all  denominations  were  quickened, 
from  the  fervid  Methodists  to  the  more  formal 
Episcopalians.  Men  of  all  creeds,  and  many  of  no 
creed,  joined  in  the  holy  propaganda,  and  with  in 
tensified  faith  and  quickened  zeal,  marched  to  the 
inspiring  music  that  had  touched  the  soul  of  nation 


i66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

and  of  individual  alike  and  issued  the  Divine  com 
mand  not  to  be  disobeyed  by  any  soul:  "Call 
nothing  common  or  unclean." 

It  was  out  on  the  prairies  of  the  West  that  the 
fire  which  burns  only  to  refine  was  sweeping  with 
out  let  or  hindrance  over  human  souls.  The 
itinerant  preacher  who  had  sometimes  in  discour 
agement  ridden  season  after  season  through  the 
trackless  forest,  over  the  still  uncharted  prairies, 
was  now  beginning  to  see  the  travail  of  his  soul  and 
reaping  satisfaction.  The  revival  of  1857-59  was 
sensitizing  and  sharpening  the  personal  conscience 
of  the  people  as  no  one  could  deny  and  making 
them  to  realize  the  meaning  of  the  words  of  Emer 
son  :  "No  greater  calamity  can  befall  a  nation  than 
the  loss  of  worship."  Worship  was  re-instated; 
the  voice  of  prayer  was  heard  throughout  the 
land;  men  called  upon  God,  and  He  answered, 
confessed  that  they  were  sinners,  and  He  forgave. 
They  acknowledged  their  heart  wanderings  and 
remissness,  and  He  had  mercy  on  them.  He  put 
grace  into  their  hearts  and  a  new  song  on  their  lips. 

It  was  to  hearts  now  at  last  awake  to  spiritual 
truth  that  the  pioneer  preachers  appealed  as  they 
travelled  their  circuits  and  thundered  in  Bu 
chanan's  days  against  the  institution  of  slavery. 
They  minced  no  words.  They  prophesied  no 


AWAKING  A  CONTINENT  167 

" smooth  things."  They  were  warriors,  fighting 
with  their  might  "the  devil  and  all  his  works." 
When  they  thought  a  thing  was  wrong  they  de 
nounced  it.  No  rich  man  in  the  pew  could  muzzle 
them.  Mercenary  motives  were  not  theirs.  They 
were  feeders,  not  fleecers,  of  their  flocks.  Through 
forests  they  rode  without  fear,  braving  the  dan 
gers  of  swollen  streams,  tempests,  wild  beasts,  and 
savage  Indians.  They  kept  step  with  the  Al 
mighty  as  they  wended  their  way  from  appoint 
ment  to  appointment,  spreading  the  glad  news  of 
redemption.  They  scorned  the  wrath  of  man. 
Peter  Akers-like,  they  held  slavery  up  to  view  in 
the  fulness  of  its  gross  iniquity.  They  prophesied 
its  extinction  through  the  crisis  of  civil  war.  They 
denounced  it  as  a  crime.  They  called  upon  the 
people  to  help  God  sweep  it  from  the  land.  "Ye 
shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you 
free,"  was  the  burden  of  their  theme,  even  before 
the  revival  of  1857-59  had  ensured  the  harvest 
they  had  sowed.  The  work  they  did  in  prepara 
tion  for  the  cosmic  work  of  Lincoln  has  never  been 
appreciated.  It  is  beyond  all  human  estimation. 

Who  can  know  what  would  have  ensued  when 
the  shock  came  of  the  Civil  War  but  for  this 
spiritual  awakening  ?  There  are  always  those  who 
say  God  would  have  found  some  other  way.  But 


1 68  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

who  that  reads  history  aright  can  find  one  instance 
of  an  epochal  civic  regeneration  that  was  not 
ushered  in  by  a  thoroughgoing,  heart-stirring 
religious  revival?  At  any  rate,  back  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  the  revival  of  1857-59,  awakening 
national  conscience,  preparing  the  way  for  the 
crisis  of  1860,  and  thus  ensuring  permanency  to 
the  principle  of  popular  government. 

What  a  drama!  All  unconsciously  the  actors 
played  their  parts.  A  continent  for  a  stage,  acres 
fertile  enough  to  feed  the  world,  a  soil  underlaid 
with  boundless  stores  of  mineral  wealth,  refreshed 
with  rivers  like  inland  lakes  and  beautified  with 
lakes  like  rolling  seas.  For  dramatis  persona:— 
money-grabber,  personifying  sordid  commercial 
ism,  pushing  property  rights  to  the  front  and 
human  rights  into  the  background;  the  slave- 
driver,  whip  in  hand;  the  crouching  negro,  driven 
to  his  task;  the  preacher  of  righteousness,  the 
evangel  of  freedom;  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  im 
personation  of  benign  fate,  the  soul  of  freedom, 
the  champion  of  popular  government,  the  man  of 
God.  Above  all  and  behind  all,  "standeth  God 
within  the  shadow  keeping  watch  above  His  own," 
and  ruling  the  mighty  drama  which,  for  the  free 
dom  and  salvation  of  a  world,  "He  doth  Himself 
contrive,  enact,  behold." 


CHAPTER  XX 

ON  THE  WAY  IN   PRAYER 

LINCOLN'S  face  was  now  turned  toward  Wash 
ington,  where  the  storm  of  an  incomparable  civil 
strife  was  soon  to  beat  upon  him. 

The  essential  humility  of  his  Christian  character 
found  remarkable  expression  in  his  farewell  speech 
to  his  neighbours  when  about  to  leave  his  Spring 
field  home  for  Washington.  He  spoke  as  simply 
as  neighbours  speak  together  over  the  back  fence. 
None  who  knew  him  well  could  doubt  his  full 
appreciation  of  the  magnitude  of  the  task  he  was 
about  to  undertake.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  a 
revelation  of  his  dependence  upon  God  and  of  his 
apprehension  of  the  tragedy  awaiting  him,  as 
indicated  by  the  suggestion  that  he  might  never 
return  to  them.  From  the  platform  of  the  car  he 
looked  for  a  moment  out  upon  the  multitude  of 
sad  faces  upturned  to  hear  his  parting  word.  Then 
with  hat  in  hand  and  gravity  upon  his  sympathetic 
face  he  said : 

169 


1 70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

My  friends,  no  one  not  in  my  situation  can  appre 
ciate  my  feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this 
place  and  the  kindness  of  this  people,  I  owe  everything. 
Here  have  I  lived  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  have 
passed  from  a  young  to  an  old  man.  Here  my  chil 
dren  have  been  born  and  one  is  buried.  I  now  leave, 
not  knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I  may  return,  with 
a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon 
Washington.  Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine 
Being  Who  ever  attended  him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With 
that  assistance,  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him  Who 
can  go  with  me  and  remain  with  you  and  be  every 
where  for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet 
be  well.  To  His  care  commending  you,  as  I  hope  in 
your  prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you  an 
affectionate  farewell. 

While  Mr.  Lincoln  had  had  some  experience  in 
public  life,  he  was  without  experience  in  executive 
office.  He  was  a  country  lawyer,  comparatively 
unlettered.  His  association  was  scant  with 
scholars  and  statesmen.  He  knew  next  to  nothing 
of  polite  society.  His  outlook  upon  life  had  been 
from  the  prairie  village  and  in  the  main  from  more 
than  humble  surroundings.  His  confident  as 
sumption  of  a  task  more  difficult  than  that  which 
had  devolved  upon  Washington  was  naturally 
criticized  by  those  antagonistic  to  his  policies. 
They  could  not  discern  his  God-given  mission.  He 
declared  he  would  succeed  only  if  guided  and  sup- 


ON  THE  WAY  IN  PRAYER          171 

ported  by  the  Omniscient  mind  and  the  Almighty 
arm.  By  faith,  he  knew  that,  with  God's  help, 
he  could  not  fail.  It  was  the  same  prophetic  in 
sight  that  led  him  to  say  to  his  partner,  Herndon, 
when  they  were  taking  a  last  look  at  the  office  in 
which  they  had  worked  together  so  many  years, 
that  he  had  an  instinctive  feeling  that  he  would 
never  return  alive. 

His  feeling  of  reliance  upon  Divine  aid  was 
doubtless  quickened  by  the  flag  which  the  mar 
tyred  McKinley  said  was  sent  to  Lincoln  the  day 
before  his  departure  from  Springfield,  bearing 
upon  its  silken  folds  an  inscription  from  the  first 
chapter  of  Joshua:  "Have  I  not  commanded  thee? 
Be  strong  and  of  good  courage,  be  not  afraid, 
neither  be  thou  dismayed;  for  the  Lord  thy  God 
is  with  thee,  whithersoever  thou  goest.  There 
shall  not  any  man  be  able  to  stand  before  thee  all 
the  days  of  thy  life.  As  I  was  with  Moses,  so 
shall  I  be  with  thee." 

As  Lincoln  journeyed  from  Illinois  across  the 
country,  he  declared  all  along  the  route  that  he 
was  going  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Living  God  of 
Israel.  At  every  railway  station  the  sympathetic, 
anxious  people  in  great  crowds  pleaded  that  he 
speak  to  them.  He  always  complied,  and  in  every 
speech  he  called  upon  the  people  to  look  to  God 


172  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

for  help  in  that  time  of  peril.  No  honest  man  can 
follow  Lincoln  on  his  trip  to  Washington,  read  the 
speeches  he  made  all  along  the  way,  and  doubt 
that  he  was  a  God-fearing  and  God-trusting  man. 
Not  even  Moses  praying,  ' '  If  Thy  presence  go  not 
with  us  carry  me  not  up  hence,"  seemed  more  de 
pendent  in  the  wilderness  on  God  than  Lincoln 
as  he  slowly  journeyed  on  to  Washington.  At 
Columbus,  Ohio,  he  said: 

I  know  what  you  all  know,  that  without  a  name, 
perhaps  without  a  reason  why  I  should  have  a  name, 
there  has  fallen  upon  me  a  task  such  as  did  not  rest 
even  upon  the  father  of  his  country.  And  so  feeling, 
I  turn  and  look  for  the  support  without  which  it  would 
be  impossible  for  me  to  perform  that  great  task.  I 
turn,  then,  and  look  to  the  great  American  people, 
and  to  the  God  Who  has  never  forsaken  them.  We 
entertain  different  views  upon  political  questions,  but 
none  is  suffering  anything.  This  is  a  most  consoling 
circumstance,  and  from  it  we  may  conclude  that  all 
we  need  is  time,  patience,  and  reliance  upon  that  God 
Who  has  never  forsaken  His  people. 

To  the  people  of  Indianapolis  he  said : 

When  the  people  rise  in  mass,  in  behalf  of  the 
Union  and  the  liberties  of  the  country,  then  "the  gates 
of  hell  cannot  prevail  against  them. " 

Speaking  before  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  Mr. 
Lincoln  assured  that  body : 


ON  THE  WAY  IN  PRAYER          173 

In  the  meantime,  if  we  have  patience,  if  we  re 
strain  ourselves,  if  we  allow  ourselves  not  to  run  off  in 
a  passion,  we  still  have  confidence  that  the  Almighty, 
the  Maker  of  the  universe,  will,  through  the  instru 
mentality  of  this  great  and  intelligent  people,  bring  us 
through  this  as  He  has  other  difficulties  of  our  country. 
Relying  on  this,  I  again  thank  you  for  this  generous 
reception. 

At  Newark,  New  Jersey,  the  President-elect  said : 

I  am  sure,  however,  that  I  have  not  the  ability  to 
do  anything  unaided  by  God,  and  that  without  His 
support  and  that  of  a  free,  happy,  prosperous,  and 
intelligent  people,  no  man  can  succeed  in  doing  that 
the  importance  of  which  we  all  comprehend. 

At  Trenton,  Mr.  Lincoln  declared : 

I  shall  be  most  happy  indeed,  if  I  shall  be  a  humble 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  and  of  this 
people,  as  the  chosen  instrument  also  in  the  hands  of 
the  Almighty,  of  perpetuating  the  object  of  that  great 
struggle. 

At  Philadelphia,  Lincoln  gave  utterance  to  these 
golden  words,  suitable  as  an  epitaph  to  the  noblest 
of  God's  noblemen : 

I  have  said  nothing  but  that  I  am  willing  to  live 
by,  and  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  to  die 
by. 


174  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Already  had  been  heard  mutterings  of  veiled 
threats  to  the  effect  that  Lincoln  would  not  be 
permitted  to  reach  the  Capital  alive.  So  alarm 
ing,  and  so  circumstantial,  were  the  reports  that 
Allan  W.  Pinkerton,  the  noted  detective,  was 
permitted  to  arrange  secretly  for  a  change  of 
programme  by  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  hurriedly 
taken  from  Harrisburg,  through  Baltimore,  to 
Washington. 

Leaving  these  expressions  of  confidence  in  God 
and  devotion  to  duty  to  work  in  the  hearts  of  the 
multitudes  who  had  heard  them  on  the  way,  and 
through  them  in  the  hearts  of  all  loyal  people 
of  the  nation,  Abraham  Lincoln,  after  a  journey 
replete  with  thrilling  incidents  and  threatened 
tragedy,  twelve  hours  ahead  of  schedule  time, 
entered  the  Capital  of  the  nation. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS 

IN  the  spirit  of  reliance  on  God,  breathed  by 
Lincoln  in  his  Springfield  farewell  speech,  and  with 
the  same  devout  dependence  upon  the  Almighty, 
repeatedly  expressed  as  he  travelled  to  the  national 
Capital,  he  arose  to  deliver  his  first  Inaugural 
Address,  for  which  the  whole  country — the 
civilized  world,  in  fact — waited  with  bated  breath. 
For  that  supreme  moment  he  had  ample  spiritual 
as  well  as  intellectual  preparation.  After  reading 
the  Address  that  morning  to  his  family  he  had 
sought  in  prayer  the  will  of  God  and  went  forth 
from  the  closet  of  devotion  calmed  by  communion 
with  his  Heavenly  Father. r 

The  devotees  of  slavery  hooted  his  election,  cari 
catured  his  physical  appearance,  derided  his  lowly 
birth,  impugned  his  motives,  and  were  at  that  very 
moment  plotting,  as  they  had  plotted  for  months, 
even  years,  to  destroy  the  Government  consecrated 
by  the  blood  of  the  Revolutionary  fathers. 

1See  Letter  of  Rev.  N.  W.  Miner  in  Lincoln's  Scrapbook  in 
the  Library  of  Congress,  p.  52 

175 


1 76  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Who,  born  of  woman,  has  ever  rivalled  the  won 
derful  patience  and  fraternal  love  that  Lincoln 
evinced  for  all  his  countrymen,  North  and  South, 
by  his  expressions  of  friendship,  even  for  those  who 
were  berating  him,  in  the  closing  words  of  his  In 
augural  Address. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen, 
and  not  in  mine,  are  the  momentous  issues  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  Government  will  not  assail  you.  You 
have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  aggress 
ors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in  Heaven  to 
destroy  the  Government,  while  I  have  the  most  solemn 
one  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  it.  I  am  loath  to 
close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must 
not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained, 
it  must  not  break,  the  bonds  of  affection.  The  mys 
tic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  patriotic 
grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth- stone  all  over 
this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union 
when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the 
better  angels  of  our  nature. 

Mr.  Lincoln  began  at  once  to  construct  his 
administration  upon  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion,  and  to  conduct  it  in  the  spirit  of  obedience 
to  God's  Word  and  love  for  his  fellow-man,  of 
whatever  state  or  station.  In  forming  his  cabinet, 
he  invited  William  H.  Seward,  his  chief  competitor 
for  the  nomination,  to  be  his  Secretary  of  State; 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS  177 

Simon  Cameron  to  be  Secretary  of  War;  Salmon 
P.  Chase  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  Gideon 
Wells  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Navy;  Caleb  C. 
Smith  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Interior;  Montgomery 
Blair  to  be  Postmaster-General;  and  Edward 
Bates  to  be  Attorney-General.  When  some  of 
Lincoln's  friends  remonstrated  with  him  as  not 
treating  his  political  followers  fairly  in  rewarding 
those  who  sought  to  take  the  Presidential  nomina 
tion  away  from  him,  he  said  both  to  these  pro 
testing  friends  and  to  some  of  the  prospective 
members  of  the  Cabinet : 

Gentlemen,  the  times  are  too  grave  and  perilous 
for  ambitious  schemes  and  personal  rivalries.  I  need 
the  aid  of  all  these  men.  They  enjoy  the  confidence 
of  their  several  States  and  sections,  and  they  will 
strengthen  the  administration. 

Appealing  to  some  of  them,  he  further  said : 

It  will  require  the  utmost  skill,  influence,  and 
sagacity  for  all  of  us  to  save  the  Republic.  If  we 
succeed,  there  will  be  glory  enough  for  all. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  trust  in  God  was  not  a  mere 
passive  faith.  It  was  a  faith  of  energetic  action. 
He  immediately  laid  his  plans  to  set  in  motion 
every  possible  force  and  agency  to  save  the  Union. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  by  the  time  he  had  been 

12 


178  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

inducted  into  the  office  of  President  he  was  fully 
convinced  that  civil  war  was  inevitable;  but  he 
did  his  utmost  to  allay  passions  and  to  secure  the 
moderation  of  the  hotheads.  In  justice  to  the 
South,  it  must  be  said  that,  had  the  wiser  counsels 
of  some  of  the  Southern  anti-secessionists  been 
followed,  and  the  extremists  kept  under  control, 
Lincoln  would  probably  have  found  some  way  to 
avoid  the  terrible  struggle  that  began  with  the 
firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  ended  only  when  almost 
a  million  men  had  laid  down  their  lives.  When  the 
South  made  the  fatal  mistake  of  forcing  war  upon 
the  nation,  its  leaders  failed  to  estimate  the  stub 
born  strength  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  masterly 
ability  in  statecraft. 

Some  prominent  men  of  the  North  made  the 
same  mistake  in  their  judgment  of  Lincoln.  They 
thought  of  him  as  a  plebeian,  a  man  of  too  common 
clay  to  be  equal  to  the  tremendous  demands  im 
posed  upon  him.  Although  they  believed  in  the 
theory  of  a  democratic  form  of  government  and 
popular  rule,  with  its  corollary  of  citizen-kingship 
for  the  humblest  among  the  people,  they  feared  to 
put  popular  government  to  the  test  in  such  a 
crucial  moment.  They  regarded  Mr.  Lincoln's 
election  as  a  risk,  as  they  had  regarded  his 
nomination  as  a  mistake. 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS     179 

The  Southern  leaders  apparently  believed  that 
they  could  play  a  game  of  bluff  sufficiently  menac 
ing  to  cause  the  North  to  back  down  and  grant  to 
the  slave  States  the  concessions  they  demanded. 

Former  President  Pierce  wrote  to  Jefferson 
Davis,  January  6,  1860,  saying: 

If  through  the  madness  of  Northern  Abolitionists, 
that  dire  calamity,  the  disruption  of  the  Union  must 
come,  the  fighting  will  not  be  along  the  Mason's  and 
Dixon's  line  merely,  it  will  be  within  our  own  borders, 
in  our  own  streets,  between  the  two  classes  of  citizens 
to  whom  I  have  referred ;  those  who  defy  the  law  and 
scout  Constitutional  obligation  will,  if  we  ever  reach 
the  arbitrament  of  arms,  find  occupation  enough  at 
home. 

It  is  almost  unbelievable  in  these  days,  with  the 
issues  of  the  Civil  War  so  clearly  understood,  that 
one  who  had  been  President  of  the  United  States 
should  have  ever  penned  a  letter  so  lacking  in 
grasp  of  the  significance  of  events  and  so  blind  to 
the  mighty  and  eternal  forces  that  were  back  of  the 
conflict. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  and 
other  contemporaries  among  the  leading  men  of  the 
country,  knew  that  the  fight  was  to  be  to  the  death 
and  rallied  loyally  to  the  support  of  the  Union. 
Mr.  Butler  went  to  Washington,  consulted  with 


i8o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

his  former  associates  among  the  Democratic 
Senators  and  Representatives,  who  said:  "It 
means  a  separation  and  a  Southern  Confederacy. 
We  will  have  our  independence  and  establish  a 
Southern  government  with  no  discordant  ele 
ments."  "Are  you  prepared  for  war?"  asked 
Mr.  Butler.  The  reply  was:  "O,  there  will  be  no 
war;  the  North  will  not  fight."  "The  North  will 
fight,"  answered  Butler.  "The  North  will  send 
the  last  man  and  expend  the  last  dollar  to  main 
tain  the  Government."  "But,"  said  the  South 
ern  friend,  "the  North  cannot  fight.  We  have 
too  many  allies  there."  "You  have  friends," 
Butler  replied,  "who  will  stand  by  you  so  long  as 
you  fight  your  battles  in  the  Union;  but  the  mo 
ment  you  fire  upon  the  flag  the  Northern  people 
will  be  a  unit;  and  you  may  be  sure  that  if  war 
comes,  slavery  ends." 

Wrong  as  Douglas  had  been  on  the  slavery 
question,  and  opposing  the  logic  of  the  events  of 
his  times,  as  in  his  debates  with  Lincoln,  and 
advocating  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  States 
Rights  without  let  or  hindrance  on  the  slavery  is 
sue,  nevertheless  he  acquitted  himself  nobly  when 
war  drew  near.  Having  informed  the  country 
where  he  stood,  by  an  interview  which  he  gave 
out  through  one  of  the  great  news  agencies,  he 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS     181 

started  for  Illinois  to  stir  up  sentiment  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Union,  and  to  impress  the  citi 
zens  of  his  State  with  the  peril  of  the  situation.  En 
route,  he  spoke  at  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  and  in 
Columbus,  Ohio.  Reaching  Springfield,  the  centre 
of  the  Lincoln-Douglas  debates,  he  made  a  speech 
before  the  Illinois  Legislature  great  alike  in  its 
magnanimity,  after  his  own  life — defeat  and  utter 
repudiation  by  both  the  Northern  anti-slavery 
party  and  the  Southern  pro-slavery  party,  and 
in  its  structure  and  meaning.  Among  the  abound 
ing  epigrams  of  this  speech  were : 

"So  long  as  there  was  hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  I 
prayed  and  implored  for  compromise.  I  have  spared 
no  effort  for  the  peaceful  solution  of  these  troubles.  I 
have  failed,  and  there  is  but  one  thing  to  do,  to  rally 
under  the  flag." 

"Shall  we  obey  the  laws,  or  shall  we  adopt  the 
Mexican  system  of  warring  on  every  election  ? "  ' '  For 
get  party.  Remember  only  your  country."  "The 
shortest  road  to  peace  is  the  most  tremendous  prepara 
tion  for  war."  It  is  with  a  sad  heart,  and  with  grief  I 
have  never  before  experienced,  that  I  have  to  con 
template  this  fearful  struggle."  "It  is  our  duty  to 
protect  the  government  and  the  flag  from  every 
assailant,  be  who  he  may." 

Mr,  Douglas  returned  to  his  home  in  Chicago 
and  repeated  his  appeal  in  the  Wigwam  where 


1 82  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Lincoln  had  been  nominated.  He  referred  to  the 
conditions  in  the  South,  resulting  from  a  con 
spiracy  to  "wipe  the  United  States  from  the  face 
of  the  earth,"  and  said  the  conspiracy  had  been 
hatching  for  years.  His  last  slogan  was  one  worthy 
of  his  eloquence  and  prominence:  "There  can  be 
no  neutrals  in  this  war,  only  patriots  and  traitors." 
The  seceding  States  organized  a  government 
with  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  as  President, 
and  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  as  Vice- 
President .  Davis  had  been  educated  at  West  Point, 
and  was  Secretary  of  War  under  President  Pierce. 
Stephens  was  the  ablest  of  the  Southern  leaders. 
He  was,  at  first,  against  secession — as,  indeed, 
were  many  other  wise  Southerners — but  when  the 
Confederate  government  had  been  formed,  he 
laid  down,  in  an  address  before  the  Georgia  Legis 
lature,  the  "moral  basis  of  the  so-called  Con 
federacy." 

Our  new  government  is  founded  upon  exactly  the 
opposite  ideas,  [he  declared].  Its  foundations  are 
laid,  its  cornerstone  rests  upon  the  great  truth  that 
the  negro  is  not  equal  to  the  white  man,  that  slavery, 
subordination  to  the  superior  race,  is  his  natural  and 
normal  condition.  This,  our  new  government,  is  the 
first  in  the  history  of  the  world  founded  upon  this 
great  physical,  philosophic,  and  moral  truth.  This 
truth  has  been  slow  in  the  process  of  its  development, 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS     183 

like  all  other  great  truths  in  the  various  departments 
of  science.  It  is  even  so  amongst  us.  Many  who 
hear  me,  perhaps,  can  recollect  well  that  this  truth  was 
not  generally  admitted  even  within  our  day.  The 
errors  of  the  past  generation  still  clung  to  many  as  late 
as  twenty  years  ago.  Those  at  the  North,  who  still 
cling  to  these  errors  with  a  zeal  above  knowledge,  we 
justly  denominate  fanatics.  All  fanaticism  springs 
from  an  aberration  of  mind,  from  a  defect  in  reasoning. 
It  is  a  species  of  insanity. 

Of  the  sincerity  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  He  was  typical  of  the  finest 
brain  and  heart  in  the  South.  He  was  conscientious 
in  his  conviction  that  slavery  was  indeed  a  divine 
institution.  He  believed  that  God  had  planned 
from  the  beginning  the  separation  of  the  sons  of 
men  into  wandering  tribes,  later  into  races,  to 
evolve  diverse  tongues  and  customs  and  physical 
characteristics;  that  in  the  divine  plan  it  was  de 
creed  that  the  black  man  was  formed  to  fit  into 
the  scheme  of  slavery ;  that  his  mental  traits  were 
suited  to  it*  and  that  his  emotional  nature  was 
such  as  to  make  him  happy  and  content  as  a  bond 
man,  his  whole  being  attuned  to  sing  the  songs  of 
the  plantation  in  the  spirit  of  loyalty  to  "Ole 
Marse  an'  Missus." 

Here  was  a  moral  attitude  to  which  Lincoln  had 
referred  in  his  Cooper  Institute  address  when  he  said : 


184  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

All  they  ask  we  could  readily  grant,  if  we  thought 
slavery  right;  all  we  ask  they  could  readily  grant  if 
they  thought  it  wrong.  Their  thinking  it  right  and 
our  thinking  it  wrong  is  the  precise  fact  upon  which 
depends  the  whole  controversy.  Thinking  it  right 
as  they  do,  they  are  not  to  blame  for  desiring  its  full 
recognition  as  being  right;  but  thinking  it  wrong  as 
we  do,  can  we  yield  to  them,  can  we  cast  our  votes 
with  their  views  and  against  our  own?  In  view  of 
our  moral,  social,  and  political  responsibilities,  can 
we  do  this  ? 


It  was  the  joining  of  the  issue  between  these 
two  forces — one  represented  by  Lincoln,  the  other 
by  Stephens — which  made  the  struggle  of  the 
Civil  War  so  terrible.  Each  was  conscientious; 
each  believed  his  cause  right ;  each  had  approached 
the  crisis  by  evolutionary  stages.  Slowly  the  is 
sue  had  developed,  until  from  the  human  stand 
point,  nothing  could  have  obviated  or  postponed 
the  clash  and  carnage  of  war.  Perhaps  no  one  was 
more  thoroughly  informed  upon  the  issue  involved 
than  Lincoln.  He  was  familiar  with  every  aspect 
of  the  slavery  question.  His  grandfather  had 
been  a  slave  owner,  and  he  was  born  into  the  at 
mosphere  of  slavery.  As  a  lad,  like  all  Southern 
white  boys,  he  played  with  the  "Pickaninnies," 
knew  the  tenderness  and  devotion  of  the  negro 
"Mammy,"  as  well  as  the  proverbial  patience  and 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS     185 

the  sage  wisdom  of  the  coloured  ''Uncle."  It  is 
even  hinted  by  biographers  that  Lincoln's  father 
left  Kentucky  for  Indiana  partly  because  he  could 
never  be  anything  more  than  "poor  white  trash," 
if  he  wrought  on  his  farm  with  his  own  hands 
without  the  help  of  slaves.  He  had  nothing  with 
which  to  buy  slaves,  and  there  was  no  prospect  of 
material  improvement  in  his  financial  condition. 

However  that  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  knew  the  South,  its  traditions,  its 
social  fabric,  and  understood  the  peculiar  diffi 
culties  which  Southern  men  of  heart  and  conscience 
had  to  face.  Therefore  it  was  that  he  proposed 
the  gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  and  that 
the  Federal  Government  appropriate  money  to 
reimburse  the  holders  of  the  slaves,  and  thus  carry 
the  South  through  its  period  of  change  rather  than 
suddenly  break  up  its  social-industrial  system. 

President  Lincoln  cherished  this  plan  for  many 
months  after  entering  the  White  House.  He  dis 
cussed  it  with  his  Cabinet,  with  other  men  of 
prominence,  and  argued  for  it  as  the  one  measure 
that  would  accomplish  what  he  believed  was  right, 
namely,  the  freedom  of  the  black  man,  while 
maintaining  fair  dealing  with  the  slave  owner.  In 
other  words,  it  would  be  but  justice,  which  was,  to 
his  thought,  the  very  essence  of  Christianity. 


1 86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Emancipation  by  purchase,  however,  was  not 
possible.  Passion  was  at  such  height  that  the 
North  was  not  willing  to  acknowledge  any  element 
of  justice  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  proposal.  The  people 
of  the  North  refused  to  concede  that  slavery  had 
become  a  national,  rather  than  a  sectional  sin. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  plan  for  the  peaceable  adjustment 
of  the  slavery  question  failed  because  the  point 
had  been  reached  at  which  inflamed  passions  would 
not  listen  to  counsels  of  moderation. 

The  Southern  States,  by  resolutions  of  secession, 
had  determined  to  depart  from  the  Union.  But 
from  Mr.  Lincoln's  point  of  view,  their  resolutions 
were  void,  as  every  State  was  an  integral  part  of 
the  Union,  and  had  no  power  to  separate  from  it. 
There  was  even  more  than  that  in  Mr.  Lincoln's 
view  of  the  Union,  He,  and  other  statesmen,  be 
lieved  that  the  United  States  was  so  far  from  being 
a  confederacy  that  it  was  not  competent  to  dis 
cuss  the  departure  of  one  of  the  States;  that  the 
Union  which,  after  the  failure  of  the  association 
of  the  Colonies  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation, 
had  been  made  so  absolute  that  to  consider  seri 
ously  the  departure  of  one  of  the  States,  was  to 
endanger  the  integrity  of  the  entire  governmental 
structure. 

The  opposite  view  in  the  South  was  that  each 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS     187 

State  maintained  its  autonomy,  was  only  one  of 
several  States  which  had  voluntarily  entered  the 
Union,  and  had  the  right  at  any  time  to  go  out  and 
remain  an  independent  sovereignty,  or  join  with 
other  States  in  the  formation  of  a  new  confederacy. 
With  the  hotheads  on  both  sides  in  the  ascendancy, 
the  war  was  inevitable.  As  Seward  had  declared, 
it  was  "an  irrepressible  conflict." 

On  April  15,  1 86 1,  President  Lincoln  issued  a 
proclamation  calling  a  special  meeting  of  Congress, 
in  which  he  referred  to  the  secession  movement  in 
the  slave  States  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ala 
bama,  Mississippi,  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  Texas, 
announcing  that  he  had  called  out  seventy-five 
thousand  militia  from  the  several  States  to  main 
tain  order  and  enforce  the  Federal  laws,  and 
summoned  Congress  to  take  such  measures  as 
"in  their  wisdom  the  public  safety  and  interest 
may  seem  to  demand." 

Forsythe,  of  Alabama,  and  Crawford,  of 
Georgia,  had  gone  to  Washington,  March  I2th, 
as  commissioners  from  the  seven  seceding  States 
to  treat  with  the  Federal  Government.  By  Mr. 
Lincoln's  direction,  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of 
State,  refused  to  receive  them,  on  the  ground,  as 
Mr.  Lincoln  stated,  that  it ' '  could  not  be  admitted 
that  the  States  referred  to  had  in  law  or  fact  with- 


1 88  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

drawn."  Mr.  Seward's  communication  was  writ 
ten  March  I5th,  but  was  withheld  from  publication 
until  the  8th  of  April,  when  it  was  delivered.  The 
issue  was  now  joined.  The  refusal  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  to  receive  the  distinguished  com 
missioners  of  the  South  was  something  in  itself 
not  calculated  to  pacify  the  ruffled  feelings  of  the 
boasted  chivalry  of  the  slave  States. 

Lincoln  directed  that  provisions  and  munitions 
be  forwarded  to  Fort  Sumter,  in  Charleston  Har 
bor.  General  Beauregard,  of  the  Confederate 
Army,  telegraphed  the  Confederate  Secretary  of 
War  that  he  had  been  notified  that  the  supplies 
would  be  sent,  either  peaceably,  or  by  force. 
Beauregard  was  instructed  to  demand  the  sur 
render  of  the  fort,  which  he  did  on  April  n,  1861. 
The  demand  was  refused  by  Major  Anderson, 
in  command.  Negotiations  followed,  and  Major 
Anderson  finally  agreed  to  evacuate  the  fort  by 
noon  April  I5th.  Beauregard  had  demanded  the 
evacuation  by  the  I2th,  and  now  notified  Major 
Anderson  at  half  past  three,  April  I2th,  that  the 
Confederate  batteries  would  open  fire  in  an  hour 
from  that  moment. 

The  war  was  on.  A  bombardment  of  thirty- 
three  hours  followed,  every  shot  resounding 
through  the  land.  The  question  whether  or 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  ROADS     189 

not  there  was  to  be  war  was  answered;  there 
was  war. 

The  South  sprang  quickly  to  the  support  of  the 
seven  seceding  States.  Other  States  which  had 
refused  to  join  the  movement  now  passed  or 
dinances  of  secession  and  threw  their  resources 
into  the  Southern  cause.  With  equal  promptness 
the  North  responded  to  the  call  to  arms,  ninety- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  people  above  Mason's  and 
Dixon's  line  endorsing  Lincoln's  call.  The  issues 
that  had  disturbed  the  country  so  long  were  now 
to  be  decided  by  the  fearful  arbitrament  of  a 
fratricidal  war. 

With  brother  arrayed  against  brother,  with 
hatred  swelling  into  rage,  Mr.  Lincoln  still  mani 
fested  his  reliance  upon  the  Almighty  and  en 
couraged  his  fellow-citizens  to  face  the  situation 
with  stout  hearts  because  God  was  with  the 
Union.  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  his  message  to  Congress, 
met  again  in  special  session  July  4,  1861,  after  out 
lining  the  course  the  Government  should  pursue, 
said: 

And  having  thus  chosen  our  course,  without  guile 
and  with  pure  purpose,  let  us  renew  our  trust  in  God 
and  go  forward,  without  fear,  and  with  manly  hearts. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  ENCIRCLING  GLOOM 

AMID  the  multiplying  difficulties  and  discour 
agements  Mr.  Lincoln  encountered  in  his  purpose 
to  preserve  the  Union,  his  faith  in  God  never 
wavered.  Indeed,  it  seemed  to  strengthen  with 
the  increasing  weight  of  the  burden  under  which 
he  laboured.  In  his  first  message  to  Congress, 
December  3,  1861,  he  said: 

In  the  midst  of  unprecedented  political  troubles, 
we  have  cause  of  great  gratitude  to  God  for  unusual 
good  health  and  most  abundant  harvests. 

He  closed  his  message  with  these  trustful  words : 

The  struggle  of  today  is  not  altogether  for  today. 
It  is  for  a  vast  future,  also.  With  a  reliance  upon 
Providence  all  the  more  firm  and  earnest,  let  us  pro 
ceed  with  the  great  task  which  events  have  evolved 
upon  us. 

In  his  message  to  Congress,  December  I,  1862, 
he  declared: 

190 


THE  ENCIRCLING  GLOOM          191 

Since  your  last  annual  assembling,  another  year 
of  health  and  bountiful  harvest  has  passed,  and  while 
it  has  not  pleased  the  Almighty  to  bless  us  with  the 
return  of  peace,  we  can  but  press  on,  guided  by  the 
best  lights  He  gives  us,  trusting  that  in  His  own  good 
time  and  wise  way,  all  will  be  well. 

He  closed  the  same  message  with  this  high  appeal 
to  patriotism,  humanity,  and  religion : 

Fellow-citizens,  we  cannot  escape  history.  We 
of  this  Congress,  and  of  this  administration,  will  be 
remembered  in  spite  of  ourselves.  No  personal 
significance  or  insignificance  can  spare  one  or  another 
of  us.  The  fiery  trial  through  which  we  pass  will 
light  us  down  with  honour  or  dishonour,  to  the  latest 
generation.  We  say  we  are  for  the  Union.  The 
world  will  not  forget  that  we  say  this.  We  know  how 
to  save  the  Union.  The  world  knows  we  know  how 
to  save  it.  We,  even  we  here,  hold  the  power  and 
bear  the  responsibility.  In  giving  freedom  to  the 
slave,  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free.  Honourable 
alike  in  what  we  give  and  what  we  preserve,  we  shall 
nobly  save  or  meanly  lose  the  last  best  hope  of  earth. 

Then,  referring  to  his  proposed  offer  of  compen 
sated  emancipation  which  he  was  willing,  even 
then,  to  tender  to  the  Southern  slave  owners,  he 
added:  "The  way  is  plain,  peaceful,  generous, 
just,  a  way  which,  if  followed,  the  world  will  for 
ever  applaud  and  God  must  for  ever  bless."  Lin- 


192  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

coin  longed  for  a  righteous  peace.  Knowing  the 
havoc  and  horror,  the  barbarism  and  waste  of 
war,  he  exhausted  every  agency  at  his  command 
in  an  effort  to  obviate  such  an  unspeakable 
calamity.  He  counted  the  money  that  compen 
sated  emancipation  would  cost  as  nothing,  if  it 
would  but  stop  the  effusion  of  blood  and  save  the 
Union ;  but  it  seemed  that  God  hardened  the  hearts 
of  the  slave  owners,  as  He  did  the  heart  of  Pharaoh, 
who  refused  to  let  the  people  of  Israel  go.  The 
bloody  work  had  to  go  on  until,  to  use  Lincoln's 
words  in  another  utterance,  "every  drop  of  blood 
shed  by  the  lash"  was  "paid  by  another  drawn  by 
the  sword." 

The  difficulties  which  beset  the  Lincoln  admin 
istration  arising  from  the  jealousy  or  unfriendliness 
of  the  foreign  powers  were,  perhaps,  the  most 
perplexing  and  the  most  menacing.  They  added 
to  Lincoln's  burden  of  anxiety  at  a  time  when, 
through  reverses  to  the  Union  Army,  his  spirits 
were  sorely  depressed.  During  the  latter  part  of 
1862,  and  early  in  1863,  one  general  after  another, 
whom  he  had  placed  in  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  failed  to  win  conclusive  victories 
against  the  enemy.  Frightful  losses  were  suffered 
by  the  Union  troops,  which  sent  a  wave  of  dis 
couragement  over  the  loyal  section  of  the  country, 


THE  ENCIRCLING  GLOOM          193 

while  there  were  unfriendly  verdicts  at  the  polls 
which  sent  the  iron  into  Lincoln's  soul. 

Fighting  for  the  extension  of  human  freedom, 
Lincoln  must  have  been  deeply  grieved  by  the 
attitude  of  such  enlightened  statesmen  as  Wil 
liam  Ewart  Gladstone  and  Lord  John  Russell. 
England's  boa&t  had  been  that  when  a  slave  set 
his  foot  upon  her  soil  his  fetters  fell  off,  per 
force,  through  the  spirit  of  liberty  abiding  there. 
Therefore,  Lincoln  looked  to  England  for  sym 
pathy  in  a  struggle  which  meant,  as  any  in 
telligent  man  could  see,  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  freedom  if  the  Union  were  pre 
served.  And  yet,  even  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Rebellion,  the  conclusion  could  not  be  avoided 
that  the  sympathies  of  the  ruling  British  states 
men  of  the  time  were  with  the  Southern  Confed 
eracy.  Gladstone  declared  that  Jefferson  Davis 
had  <c  founded  a  nation."  Lord  Russell  used  his 
influence  at  all  times  to  promote  schemes  of  in 
tervention,  ostensibly  in  the  name  of  peace,  but 
really  to  assure  the  division  of  the  American  Re 
public  into  two  hostile  governments.  The  moneyed 
classes  of  England,  whose  business  suffered  and 
whose  incomes  were  curtailed  because  of  the  war, 
were  plainly  against  the  North  from  the  start. 

To  them,  the  supply  of  cotton  was  more  important 
13 


194  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

than  the  life  of  a  great  nation  speaking  the  same 
language  and  cherishing  similar  institutions  and 
traditions. 

Slavery  was  the  blot  upon  the  principles  of 
Magna  Charta,  which  were  incorporated  into  our 
fundamental  law.  The  triumph  of  the  Union 
promised  to  erase  this  blot,  while  the  triumph  of 
the  Rebellion  would  have  deepened  and  extended 
it.  It  was  political  jealousy  and  sordid  commer 
cialism  that  arrayed  the  dominant  classes  of  Eng 
land  against  the  North.  It  is,  however,  to  the 
credit  of  the  common  people  of  England  that, 
although  many  of  them  were  thrown  out  of  em 
ployment  and  reduced  to  direful  straits  for  the 
want  of  cotton  to  supply  their  mills,  they,  for  the 
most  part,  stood  by  the  cause  of  freedom  in 
America. 

When  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  sent  over  to 
England  to  stem  the  tide  of  adverse  opinion,  the 
effect  of  his  splendid  oratory  upon  the  masses  was 
so  great  that  the  sinister  designs  of  the  British 
Government  were  checked.  At  first  Mr.  Beecher 
encountered  much  hostility.  In  addressing  a  mass 
meeting  in  Exeter  Hall,  Manchester,  he  stood  for 
thirty  minutes,  unawed  and  unmoved  in  the  face 
of  a  howling  mob.  Finally,  when  order  was 
partially  restored,  one  of  the  angry  throng  shouted : 


THE  ENCIRCLING  GLOOM          195 

"Why  haven't  you  Yankees  put  down  the  Re 
bellion  in  sixty  days,  as  you  said  you  would  ? "  To 
which  Mr.  Beecher  flashed  back  the  answer: 
"Because  we  are  fighting  Americans,  and  not 
Britishers." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  an  intimate  friend  and 
adviser  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  though,  while  editor 
of  The  Independent,  he  severely  criticized  some 
measures  of  Lincoln's  administration.  His  visit 
to  England  did  much  to  arouse  the  sympathies 
of  the  English  masses  in  favour  of  the  Union 
and  freedom  as  against  secession  and  slavery.  His 
lecture  tour  of  the  British  Isles  wielded  an  im 
measurable  influence  in  behalf  of  the  cause  for 
which  he  spoke,  and  deserves  to  be  listed  as  one 
of  the  most  potent  forces  exerted  abroad  for  the 
preservation  of  the  American  Union.  His  mag 
netism  and  skill  as  an  orator,  and  his  known 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  anti-slavery,  gave  him 
authoritative  utterance,  which  was  heard  through 
out  England  and  felt  throughout  the  civilized 
world. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  sympathy  of 
Queen  Victoria  and  her  noble  husband  were  with 
the  North,  even  when  her  ministers  were  hostile. 
It  was  largely  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  Queen 
and  her  Consort,  that  the  British  Government  did 


196  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

not  officially  recognize  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
Nevertheless,  the  British  Government  aided  and 
abetted  the  Rebellion  by  permitting  Confederate 
cruisers  to  arm  in  their  harbours  and  go  forth  to 
prey  upon  American  commerce. 

Among  the  bitterest  enemies  of  the  American 
Union  at  that  time  was  Napoleon  III,  Emperor 
of  the  French.  He  had  ambitions  for  the  restora 
tion  of  French  influence  in  America  that  had  been 
lost  in  the  conquest  of  Canada  by  England,  and  by 
the  cession  of  the  vast  Louisiana  Territory  to  the 
United  States  by  the  first  Napoleon.  While  the 
Emperor  did  not  expect  to  regain  these  lost  pos 
sessions,  his  ambition  seems  to  have  been  to 
overthrow  the  Mexican  Republic  and  erect  on  its 
ruins  a  monarchy  to  be  ruled  by  some  European 
royal  personage  of  his  own  selection.  That  accom 
plished,  the  next  step  was  to  have  been  the 
annexation  of  Mexico  to  France,  or  at  least  its 
domination  by  France. 

But  Napoleon  III  knew  that  the  American 
Union,  undivided,  rendered  his  ambitious  scheme 
impossible.  He,  therefore,  laboured  incessantly 
through  the  earlier  years  of  the  war  to  induce  the 
other  European  powers  to  join  him  in  intervention, 
or  in  the  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy 
as  an  independent  nation.  Fearing  the  success  of 


THE  ENCIRCLING  GLOOM          197 

the  Union  cause,  Napoleon,  in  1862,  invited  the 
governments  of  England  and  Russia  to  enter  with 
France  into  a  joint  proposition  to  the  United 
States  for  mediation  between  the  National  Gov 
ernment  and  the  seceders.  By  the  direction  of 
President  Lincoln,  the  Secretary  of  State  in 
structed  all  representatives  and  ministers  of  the 
United  States  abroad  to  make  known  the  fact 
that  such  suggestions  from  foreign  powers  could 
neither  be  received  nor  discussed.  Nevertheless, 
the  French  Government  pressed  the  point,  and 
desisted  only  when  the  English  and  Russian 
governments,  convinced  of  the  firm  attitude  of 
President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Seward,  rejected 
the  Emperor's  overtures. 

The  Emperor,  notwithstanding  the  failure  of  his 
efforts  for  joint  mediation,  did  not  abandon  his 
scheme.  He  felt  that  his  own  situation  in  regard 
to  Mexico  was  desperate  if  he  could  not  either 
conciliate  the  United  States  or  destroy  its  formid 
able  power.  He,  therefore,  caused  his  Minister 
Drouyn  de  1'Huys  to  address  a  dispatch  to  Mon 
sieur  Mercier,  the  French  Ambassador  at  Wash 
ington,  under  date  of  January  9,  1863,  suggesting 
a  conference  between  Commissioners  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  Confederacy,  with  a  view  to  the 
settlement  of  the  questions  at  issue  by  compromise. 


198  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

This  overture  reached  the  President  on  February 
3,  1863.  It  was  immediately  following  the  terrible 
disaster  to  the  Union  forces  at  Fredericksburg,  and 
preceding  the  disheartening  calamity  at  Chancel- 
lorsville.  All  the  great  European  Powers,  except 
Russia,  had  assumed  an  attitude  of  veiled  hostility, 
although  they  halted  at  direct  intervention.  The 
insidious  suggestion  came  at  the  darkest  hour  of  the 
Civil  War,  and  a  weak  and  timid  administration 
might  have  been  tempted  to  listen  to  the  Em 
peror's  wily  proposal  as  a  way  out  of  a  hopeless 
tangle  of  difficulties.  But  Lincoln  saw  that  to 
yield  to  the  plan  would  be  a  virtual  surrender  of 
the  national  authority. 

Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet  were  moved  by  this 
unfriendly  suggestion  no  more  than  they  had  been 
by  previous  hints  at  active  interference.  Secre 
tary  Seward,  following  the  direction  of  his  Chief, 
denied  in  reply  that  his  government  was  at  all  dis 
appointed.  He  declared  that  it  was  bearing  itself 
cheerfully  in  all  vicissitudes,  in  unwavering  con 
fidence  of  an  early  and  complete  triumph  of  the 
national  cause.  He  pointed  out  that,  amid  the 
alternation  of  victories  and  defeats,  the  land  and 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States  had  steadily 
advanced,  reclaiming  from  the  insurgents  the  forts 
and  other  strategic  points  that  had  been  treacher- 


THE  ENCIRCLING  GLOOM          199 

ously  seized  before  hostilities  actually  began,  that 
much  of  the  territory  included  by  the  insurgents 
in  their  projected  exclusive  slaveholding  dominions 
had  already  been  re-established  under  the  flag  of 
the  Union,  that  the  rebels  retained  entire  only  the 
States  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Texas,  half  of 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Mississippi,  two 
thirds  of  South  Carolina,  and  one  third  of 
Arkansas  and  Louisiana.  Continuing,  he  said : 

The  national  forces  hold  even  this  small  territory 
in  close  blockade  and  siege.  This  government,  if  re 
quired,  does  not  hesitate  to  submit  its  achievements 
to  the  test  of  comparison,  and  it  maintains  that  in  no 
part  of  the  world  and  in  no  time,  ancient  or  modern, 
has  a  nation,  when  rendered  all  unready  for  combat 
by  the  enjoyment  of  almost  eighty  years  of  unbroken 
peace,  so  quickly  awakened  to  the  alarm  of  sedition, 
put  forth  energies  so  vigorous  and  achieved  success  so 
signal  and  effective  as  those  which  have  marked  the 
progress  of  this  combat  on  the  part  of  the  Union. r 

The  firmness  of  Lincoln,  his  confidence,  and  hope 
fulness  when  the  outlook  was  darkest,  his  sublime 
faith  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  righteousness,  had 
their  inspiration  in  his  unwavering  reliance  upon 
an  over-ruling  Providence.  His  clinging  faith 
in  the  justice  of  Almighty  God,  and  his  habit  of 

1  The  Proclamation  of  March  30,  1863. 


200  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

prayer,  held  him  steadfast  through  the  darkest 
hours  of  the  momentous  struggle.  It  was  in  fact 
the  next  month  that  Lincoln  called  the  entire  na 
tion  to  join  him  in  prayer  to  God  for1  "  the  restora 
tion  of  our  now  divided  and  suffering  country." 
Others  far  and  near  might  waver  and  lose  heart. 
Lincoln  in  the  face  of  every  difficulty  steadily 
maintained:  "If  God  is  with  us,  we  cannot  fail."2 

'The  Proclamation  of  March  30,  1863. 
3  Nicolay  and  Hay:  Vol.  x,  149,  footnote. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  FOUR  LONG  YEARS 

STILL  under  the  blight  of  the  worst  war  the 
world  has  ever  known  it  is  difficult  for  us  who  live 
today  to  realize  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  through 
all  those  crucial  years  which  we  have  been  de 
scribing,  was  making  ready  for  a  task  as  much 
bigger  than  any  which  had  gone  before  as  the 
World  War  out-classes  all  other  wars  of  history. 
The  soul  as  well  as  mind  had  to  be  prepared ;  for 
they  were  brothers  who  fought  against  each  other 
in  the  Civil  War.  Besides  mental  and  military 
efficiency  there  were  needful  prayer  and  faith  and 
love.  Victory  in  arms  had  to  be  followed,  if  there 
was  to  be  a  re-united  country,  by  Christian 
magnanimity. 

It  has  been  worth  while  to  trace  in  some  detail 
the  spiritual  growth  of  Lincoln,  if  only  to  realize 
that  it  took  a  man  of  God  to  keep  through  all 
those  dreadful  years  a  spirit  sweet  and  wholesome, 
finding  just  before  he  died  expression  in  his  pur 
pose:  "to  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in;  to 

201 


202  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him  who 
shall  have  borne  the  battle ;  and  for  his  widow  and 
his  orphan — to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and 
cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves, 
and  with  all  nations." 

What  was  the  work  to  which  Lincoln  brought 
in  1 86 1  a  soul  as  Christian  as  his  mind  was  clear 
and  fertile?  In  the  actual  service  the  one  side 
had  some  2,778,304  men;  the  other  700,000  men 
operating  to  advantage  on  interior  lines  and  always 
near  the  base  of  their  supplies.  The  North  lost 
all  told  about  500,000  men.  The  Southern  loss 
in  its  totality  is  more  difficult  to  estimate,  but 
was  at  least  133,821.  The  twenty-two  States 
that  proved  loyal  to  the  Union  had  a  population 
of  22,000,000;  the  seceding  States  included  5,500,- 
ooo  whites  and  4,600,000  blacks.  Of  her  popu 
lation  the  North  furnished  for  potential  use  in 
the  ranks  4,600,000  soldiers  or  45  per  cent,  of 
her  fighting  population,  the  South  1,150,000  or 
90  per  cent,  of  her  fighting  men.1  In  material  re 
sources,  manufactures,  transportation  facilities, 
the  balance  was  favourable  to  the  North.  Pre 
cisely  because  of  this  preponderance  of  strength, 
the  North  had  to  be  led  by  a  man  of  God  in  order 

1  These  statistics  are  in  general  familiar  to  students.  The 
article  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica  supplements  them. 


THE  FOUR  LONG  YEARS  203 

to  win  victories  without  bitterness ;  to  reconstruct 
without  retaliation. 

Until  the  last  Lincoln  hoped  that  war  might  be 
averted  or  at  least  snuffed  out  at  the  beginning. 
But  the  shot  fired  on  Sumter  was  heard  in  New 
England,  which  Butler  had  accurately  predicted 
would  be  solid  for  the  Union;  in  the  Northwest, 
which  the  South  was  sure,  against  the  facts,  would 
be  so  slow  in  coming  in  at  all  that  secession  would 
meanwhile  grow  into  a  hard  reality;  even  in  Cali 
fornia,  which  both  North  and  South  mistakenly 
believed  would  remain  neutral.  The  Border 
States  were  naturally  divided,  but  Lincoln's 
policy  of  firmness  mingled  with  unbroken  patience 
saved  Delaware  and  Missouri  outright,  ensured 
the  carving  at  the  proper  time  of  West  Virginia 
out  of  old  Virginia,  and  made  Maryland  and 
Kentucky  minister  with  considerable  consistency 
to  the  support  of  the  undivided  Union. 

Before  the  war  was  three  months  old,  Lincoln 
was  able  in  sincerity  and  confidence  to  exhort: 
' '  Let  us  renew  our  trust  in  God  and  go  forward, 
without  fear,  and  with  manly  hearts."  He  called 
for  75,000  volunteers;  almost  four  times  as  many 
answered,  forerunners  of  the  myriads  later  to 
respond:  "We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham." 
The  too  hastily  improvised  battle  of  Bull  Run 


204  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

turned  into  a  disgraceful  retreat  back  to  Washing 
ton.  But  the  first  year  ended  with  the  North 
settling  grimly  down  to  the  big  work  on  land  and 
sea,  the  3000  miles  of  Southern  coast  in  large  part 
blockaded,  Southern  commerce  strangled,  save 
for  isolated  privateers,  and  Hatteras  and  Port 
Royal  both  in  Northern  hands. 

With  the  opening  of  1862  preparations  began 
on  a  gigantic  scale  for  the  complete  conquest  of 
the  South.  On  the  one  side  McClellan  and  on  the 
other  Joseph  E.  Johnston  were  training  to  the 
finest  point  such  fighting  men  as  had  never  shed 
each  other's  blood  before.  Spring  found  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson  in  the  hands  of  Grant,  and 
Shiloh,  at  first  apparently  a  drawn  battle,  ended 
in  the  death  of  the  gallant  Albert  Sidney  Johnston 
and  the  headlong  flight  of  Beauregard,  still  proudly 
mindful  of  Bull  Run.  Then  Stonewall  Jackson 
swept  up  the  valley  of  Virginia,  scattering  on 
either  hand  Fremont,  Banks,  McDowell,  making 
for  himself  a  reputation  to  outlast  all  time,  opening 
the  way  for  the  noble  Lee  to  come  into  his  own  as 
Southern  chief  par  excellence,  and  helping  rob  the 
painstaking  McClellan  of  the  golden  fruits  of  what 
seemed  for  a  time  like  victories,  but  turned  to  ashes  in 
his  hands  as  midsummer  found  him  foiled  in  reach 
ing  Richmond,  though  this  was  his  second  trial. 


THE  FOUR  LONG  YEARS  205 

For  a  time  Tennessee  appeared  to  be  the  centre 
of  the  war,  and  Rosecrans  deserved  the  great 
victory  he  won  at  Corinth.  Then  as  autumn 
opened,  Pope  and  Buell  were  in  ill-repute,  and 
Lee,  encouraged  by  his  success  at  Second  Bull 
Run,  crossed  over  into  Maryland,  to  be  checked  at 
Antietam  by  McClellan,  and  unwittingly  to  fur 
nish  the  occasion  Lincoln  had  awaited  to  announce 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 

When  the  winter  opened,  the  North  began  that 
general  offensive  which  was  maintained  in  spite 
of  some  reverses  till  the  end  of  1865.  McClellan, 
curiously  unable  to  use  with  despatch  the  magni 
ficent  army  he  had  wonderfully  trained,  saw  Lin 
coln,  after  quaintly  suggesting  he  would  like  to 
borrow  it,  try  man  after  man  who  could  fight  as 
well  as  plan  and  drill,  march  and  countermarch. 
Burnside,  excellent  in  charge  of  a  division,  lost 
Fredericksburg  in  December,  and  was  replaced 
by  Hooker,  able  but  too  talkative,  who  won  no 
spurs  the  next  spring  at  Chancellorsville,  where 
Jackson  got  his  mortal  wound.  With  Lee  well 
upon  the  way  to  water  his  horses  in  the  Delaware, 
Lincoln  sent  the  scholarly  Meade  to  check  him 
in  July  at  Gettysburg,  where,  as  at  Antietam,  the 
fatal  failure  to  follow  up  Lee  in  retreat  prolonged 
the  war. 


206  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

More  and  more  the  eyes  of  the  observant  were 
turned  toward  the  Southwest  where  the  silent 
Grant  was  not  always  winning  victories  as  at 
Vicksburg,  but  never  ceased  to  fight.  He  made 
the  most  of  what  he  had.  He  never  offered  an 
excuse.  He  never  talked.  He  fought.  Gradu 
ally  he  won  the  complete  confidence  of  Lincoln, 
who  without  underestimating  the  good  work  of 
Thomas  and  Rosecrans,  both  first-class  fighting 
men,  gave  Grant  supreme  command  in  the  West 
and  finally,  on  March  9,  1864,  placed  him  at  the 
head  of  all  the  Union  forces  of  the  land. 

The  last  year  is  a  story  quickly  told.  The 
month  of  May  found  Grant  pressing  back  the 
enemy  in  the  Wilderness.  Beaten  a  month  later 
at  Cold  Harbor,  Grant  fought  on  to  Petersburg. 
Though  not  always  winning  victories,  Grant  wore 
Lee  down  by  constant  hammering,  and  put  a  chill 
into  the  Southern  heart.  Sheridan  swept  clean 
the  Shenandoah  Valley.  Sherman  brought  to  a 
successful  end  his  campaign  against  Atlanta,  and 
as  the  year  closed,  reached  the  sea.  Grant  was 
tightening  his  grip  on  Lee.  The  Southern  star 
was  fast  declining.  With  scarcely  any  chance  to 
make  even  a  running  fight,  Lee  at  last  with  dignity 
laid  down  his  arms  at  Appomattox,  and  on  April  9, 
1865,  the  war  was  near  an  end,  with  Lincoln  giv- 


THE  FOUR  LONG  YEARS  207 

ing  God  the  glory  and — as  Justice  Harlan  says- 
wearing  a  new  "expression  of  serene  joy,  as  if 
conscious  that  the  great  purpose  of  his  life  had 
been  achieved." 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

ARMS  AND  THE  MAN 

WITH  the  brief  summary  of  the  Civil  War  before 
us  in  the  chapter  which  precedes  this,  it  would 
seem  worth  while  to  observe  Lincoln  as  month  after 
month  he  dealt  with  some  of  the  representative 
problems  the  War  brought  to  him,  sometimes  in 
such  complexity  or  massiveness  as  almost  to  break 
his  spirit.  But  never  quite;  for  Lincoln  as  per 
haps  no  other  man  in  history,  save  Cromwell,  was 
"sustained  and  soothed  by  an  unfaltering  trust" 
in  God  and  man  alike. 

The  time  has  come  not  so  much  to  contend  for 
Lincoln's  Christian  faith  as  to  portray  it;  not  to 
attempt  to  prove  by  laws  of  logic  Lincoln's  con 
fidence  in  that  best  in  the  average  man  which  was 
never  broken,  as  to  flash  a  light  along  the  way  of 
those  four  years  that  will,  with  but  little  comment, 
show  Lincoln  in  relationship  with  God  and  also 
with  human  beings,  trusting  them  when  they 
yielded  to  the  worst,  revealing  to  his  associates 
traits  in  the  mass  of  men  they  often  doubted  that 

208 


ARMS  AND  THE  MAN  209 

men  had  at  all,  even  calling  his  erring  brothers 
in  the  South  back  to  that  normal  relationship  of 
human  fellowship  in  words  in  his  first  Inaugural 
as  true  as  they  are  tender: 

We  are  not  enemies  but  friends.  We  must  not 
be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it 
must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection. 

There  is  one  passage  in  the  first  Inaugural  not 
so  well  known  as  it  ought  to  be ;  for  it  proves  even 
to  the  most  reluctant  that  from  the  first  Lincoln's 
trust  in  God  and  trust  in  man  went  side  by  side 
through  all  those  years  of  bitter  bloodshed:  "If 
the  Almighty  Ruler  of  Nations,  with  His  eternal 
truth  and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the  North,  or 
on  yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that  justice 
will  surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of  this  great 
tribunal  of  the  American  people." 

The  Battle  of  Bull  Run  was  the  first  hard  mili 
tary  test  of  Lincoln's  twofold  faith.  The  test  was 
not  of  his  choosing.  The  South  was  farther  on 
in  preparation  for  the  war.  Northern  editors,  in 
fact  Northern  sentiment  was  clamouring  for  the 
taking  of  Richmond  and  the  immediate  ending  of 
the  war,  not  foreseeing  that  wars  are  not  won  by 
the  unprepared  unless,  like  the  Allies  and  America 
in  the  World  War,  it  is  possible  at  first  to  fight 


210  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

indeterminate  battles  while  preparations  are  in 
steady  progress  for  the  final  issue.  The  unin 
formed  up  North  staked  all  on  that  one  first 
big  battle. 

It  was  June  of  1 86 1 .  The  Army  of  the  Potomac 
was  encamped  on  Arlington  Heights  in  plain  view 
of  the  Capitol  shimmering  in  the  radiant  sunlight 
of  the  early  summer.  The  White  House  was 
gleaming  through  the  lovely  foliage  where  the 
birds  were  still  busy  making  nests.  Within,  the 
President  was  dealing  with  his  usual  despatch 
with  the  details  the  hour  brought,  while  visitors 
were  coming  in  and  out  with  ordered  regularity. 
From  the  observation  balloon,  hanging  over  the 
Potomac,  the  biggest  army  ever  mustered  on  our 
soil  was  in  plain  sight.  It  was,  however,  only 
drilling.  Neither  in  Washington  nor  near  was 
excitement  evident. 

But  as  July  came  in,  Beauregard  was  evidently 
massing  his  men  at  Bull  Run,  throwing  up  breast 
works,  cutting  down  trees,  and  disposing  his  army 
so  as  to  await  attack  from  McDowell  leading  the 
Northern  troops.  As  the  2ist  drew  near,  the 
inevitable  crash  was  the  common  talk  in  Washing 
ton.  Victory  seemed  so  sure  to  non-combatants 
that  as  McDowell  moved  forward  he  and  his  men 
were  followed  by  the  fashionable  and  curious, 


ARMS  AND  THE  MAN  211 

eager  to  see  the  "Rebels"  thrashed.  By  the  2ist 
the  shock  of  battle  had  begun.  The  earth  re 
sounded  with  such  a  crash  of  contending  armies  as 
was  plainly  heard  in  Washington.  There  was  at 
first  confusion  on  both  sides.  Regiments  were 
scattered.  Jackson  got  his  prefix  of  " Stonewall" 
because  he  seemed  to  be  among  the  few  who  stood 
steady.  Straggling  and  uneven  lines  proclaimed 
the  amateurishness  of  the  fierce  fighting. 

The  South,  however,  was  clearly  losing  out.  Up 
and  down  their  lines  the  despairing  note  was 
struck:  "We  are  beaten."  The  Southern  regi 
ments  began  to  melt  away.  The  stream  of  fugi 
tives  fled  faster  toward  Manasses  from  the  front. 
Suddenly — even  unexpectedly — Southern  re-en 
forcements  came  by  the  thousands.  With  a  wild 
yell  they  plunged,  with  flashing  sabres,  into  the 
very  thick  of  the  contest.  The  Union  forces 
faltered,  fell  back,  plunged  in  a  mad,  panic- 
stricken  rout  toward  Washington,  trampling  under 
feet  the  heat-exhausted  and  footsore  observers 
who  had  paid  their  money  to  come  out  to  see  a 
victory,  not  to  be  dust-choked  that  hot  Sunday 
in  a  disgraceful  and  disheartening  defeat. 

By  midnight,  horror-stricken,  haggard,  worn, 
some  of  them  arrived  at  the  White  House  to  ex 
plain.  All  day  long  in  prayer  and  meditation 


212  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Lincoln  had  been  receiving  the  reports  and  was  not 
unprepared  for  the  outcome,  which  he  accepted 
with  fortitude  and  resignation. r 

Now  he  was  lying  on  his  office  sofa,  listening  to 
the  tales  of  woe,  estimating  the  result  at  its  full 
value,  unconvinced  by  the  voluble  and  the  incom 
petent  that  Bull  Run  after  all  was  nothing  but  a 
panic  of  teamsters  and  sightseers.  To  one  vindi 
cator  of  the  day  he  dryly  answered :  ''Ah,  I  see,  we 
whipped  the  enemy  and  then  ran  away."2 

Lincoln  was  far  more  concerned  to  have  the 
country  recognize  that  war  at  last  had  come  and 
that  the  country  must  stand  by  him,  no  matter 
what  mistakes  might  be  made  by  this  man  or  that, 
no  matter  what  reverses  might  occur ;  and  that  his 
fellow-countrymen  should  with  him  put  their  trust 
in  God  Almighty  while  they  used  their  resources 
to  the  utmost  in  the  winning  of  the  war.  The 
very  next  day  after  Bull  Run  he  called  McClellan, 
whose  victories  in  what  is  now  West  Virginia  had 
thrilled  the  country,  to  Washington,  to  take  com 
mand  of  the  demoralized  remnant  of  Bull  Run  and 
wipe  out  the  disgrace.  Then  a  little  later  he  called 

1  Mr.  Henry  C.  Whitney  in  his  Life  on  the  Circuit  with  Lincoln 
says  Lincoln's  favourite  prayer  in  many  a  crisis  was  the  Geth- 
semane  prayer  of  Jesus  Christ:  "Father  if  it  be  possible,  let  this 
cup  pass  from  me." 

'Tarbell,  ii.,  57. 


ARMS  AND  THE  MAN  213 

the  entire  nation  to  its  knees  in  prayer  that  ''we 
may  be  spared  farther  punishment,  though  most 
justly  deserved ;  that  our  arms  may  be  blessed  and 
made  effectual  for  the  re-establishment  of  law, 
order,  and  peace  throughout  the  wide  extent  of 
our  country." 

Already  plain  people  were  discovering  the  big 
heart  of  the  man.  He  began  to  do  his  little  name 
less  acts  of  kindness  on  the  sly.  The  boy  who 
came  along  on  crutches  was  apt,  if  no  one  was 
looking,  to  have  a  gold  piece  thrust  into  his  hand. 
The  sad  and  troubled  face  Lincoln  singled  out  of 
every  crowd  and  touched  it  with  the  finger-tip 
of  Christlike  uplift  and  encouragement,  and  put 
gladness  in  the  place  of  gloom.  Before  the  year 
was  over  people  everywhere  began  to  identify  his 
interests  with  their  own,  to  think  of  his  country  as 
their  country,  and  to  call  him  "Father  Abraham." 

When  he  wanted  men  upon  the  battlefield  they 
came  because  he  called.  His  war  became  at  last 
their  war.  They  fought  for  him  as  well  as  for  home ; 
as  many  a  Copperhead  discovered  to  his  discom 
fiture  when — like  the  false  king  in  Hamlet — he  was 
trying  to  pour  poison  into  the  ears  of  public  opinion 
which  he  thought  was  not  awake.  Children  as  well 
as  adults  would  fight  at  a  drop  of  the  handkerchief 
for  the  man  in  Washington  who  understood  every- 


214  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

one  and  interpreted  to  all  their  inmost  feelings. 
Who's  Who  tells  us  that  a  now  famous  Uni 
versity  President  was  ten  years  old  when  Lincoln 
was  assassinated,  and  to  one  of  his  old  students  he 
once  said:  "The  only  fight  I  ever  had  in  my  boy 
hood  was  the  morning  word  came  of  the  killing  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  I  was  on  my  way  to  school,  out  in 
the  Middle  West.  A  bigger  boy  said,  'he  was  glad 
old  Abe  was  dead. '  I  dropped  my  books  and  went 
for  him  and  licked  him,  too,  big  as  he  was." 

Already  Lincoln  was  having  troubles  in  the 
inner  circle  and  dealing  with  them  wisely,  patiently, 
and  with  a  Christlike  spirit.  What  a  bother  Fre 
mont  was!  He  had  been  the  idol  of  the  North. 
No  Presidential  nominee  except  Blaine  and 
Roosevelt  has  ever  so  awakened  popular  en 
thusiasm  as  Fremont  awoke  it  in  1856.  Lincoln's 
appointment  of  Fremont  early  in  the  war  to 
command  the  Department  of  the  West  was  the 
most  popular  he  ever  made.  But  Fremont  was  in 
almost  every  sense  a  failure.  He  did  not  know  his 
place.  He  would  take  no  hint  to  resign.  Lincoln 
tried  honestly  to  help  him  to  make  good,  and  when 
at  last  Fremont  had  to  go,  he  showed  a  deli 
cacy  and  a  long-suffering  so  utterly  misunderstood 
that  Mrs.  Fremont,  the  strong-minded  daughter 
of  Senator  Ben  ton,  called  on  Lincoln  at  midnight 


ARMS  AND  THE  MAN  215 

with  the  threat  that  Fremont  could  set  up — if  he 
would — an  independent  government  of  his  own. 

McClellan  was  almost  as  difficult  as  Fr6mont. 
He  could  fight,  but  he  never  would  unless  he  was 
quite  sure  that  he  would  win ;  and  even  if  he  won 
as  at  Antietam,  he  was  not  apt  to  follow  up  and 
thus  both  lost  the  fruits  and  let  the  war  drag  on. 
Never  was  man's  patience  tried  more  than  Lincoln's 
under  the  delays  McClellan  was  habitually,  con 
fidently,  egotistically  explaining  even  in  insulting 
terms  to  Lincoln.  The  contempt  he  showed  for 
Lincoln  everybody  understood ;  but  never  once  did 
Lincoln  show  resentment  in  return.  He  thought 
only  of  his  country's  welfare.  He  wanted  not 
personal  deference  from  McClellan;  he  wanted 
him  to  fight.  "  I  will  hold  McClellan's  horse  if  he 
will  only  bring  us  success,"  was  the  familiar  sum 
ming  up  of  Lincoln's  Christian  humility  in  all  his 
dealings  with  McClellan. 

Cameron  violated  the  outstanding  policy  of  the 
administration  and  naturally  encouraged  the  arm 
ing  of  the  slaves.  But  in  removing  him  Lincoln, 
always  fair,  took  the  sting  away  by  making  him 
our  Minister  to  Russia.  Then  in  choosing  Stan- 
ton  for  the  place  vacated,  he  picked  a  man  who  had 
humiliated  him  a  while  before  and  even  after 
taking  office  rarely  showed  until  the  last  the  con- 


2i6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

sideration  one  always  owes  to  the  chief  who  has 
made  possible  his  elevation  to  high  office.  For 
Stan  ton's  personal  opinion  of  him,  Lincoln  cared 
nothing.  The  one  fact  ever  in  his  mind  was  that 
Stanton  was  able  and  loyal  to  the  cause,  that  the 
country  trusted  him,  that  he  could  and  did  ad 
minister  the  War  Department  with  integrity  and 
exceptional  ability.  Stanton  might  tell  others 
Lincoln  was  a  fool.  Lincoln's  comment  waived 
aside  all  personal  implications  and  kept  the 
patriotic  motive  always  actuating  him  in  the 
foreground,  once  humorously  saying:  "Stanton  is 
usually  right." 

The  mistakes  Lincoln  made  in  his  selection  of 
assistants  would  have  cost  him  his  position  had  he 
not  been  chosen  for  a  four  years'  term.  Fremont 
had  to  go  and  then  McClellan.  The  choice  of  the 
self -depreciating  Burnside  was  a  grave  mistake 
as  Fredericksburg  made  clear.  Hooker  had  ad 
mirable  qualities,  but  he  indulged  in  ambitious 
dreams,  reported  to  Lincoln,  of  becoming  a  dicta 
tor,  and  yet  Lincoln  appointed  him  only  to  see 
him  fail  at  Chancellorsville  as  Meade  later,  after 
winning  Gettysburg,  let  Lee  slip  through  his  hands 
and  recoup  himself  for  what  then  seemed  an  in 
definite  continuation  of  the  war.  Lincoln  was 
simply  feeling  round  for  the  right  man  at  a  time 


ARMS  AND  THE  MAN  217 

when  we  had  no  training-school  for  big  warfare 
except  war  itself.  He  never  thought  of  anything 
except  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

But  he  always  trusted  God.  He  never  counted 
himself  sufficient  for  the  gigantic  tasks  before  him. 
When  men  reported  to  him  Chase's  plots  to  get 
into  the  White  House,  he  amazed  informants  by 
saying  frankly  that  if  Chase  could  do  the  "hard 
job"  better,  and  the  people  wanted  Chase,  he  was 
willing  to  give  way  to  Chase.  His  one  concern 
was  to  do  God's  work  in  God's  own  way,  and  never 
in  the  Civil  War  was  this  more  evident  than  when 
the  Merrimac  seemed  about  to  finish  up  its  work 
in  Hampton  Roads  and  then  to  steam  up  unhin 
dered  to  repeat  the  destruction  which  had  earlier 
overtaken  Washington  in  the  War  of  1812. 

The  conflict  had  been  dragging  on  for  a  whole 
year.  The  North  with  its  wooden  vessels  still 
had  problems  on  the  sea.  The  Confederates 
captured  the  Merrimac  and  then  converted  it  into 
the  first  ironclad  in  history.  The  naval  experts 
around  Lincoln  were  worried  beyond  self-control. 
They  foresaw  her  throwing  shells  into  the  White 
House  and  battering  down  the  walls  of  the  Capitol. 
Everybody  lost  his  head  but  Lincoln,  and  his 
reply  comes  ringing  down  the  years:  "The  Al 
mighty  will  prevent  her.  This  is  God's  fight. 


218  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OP  GOD 

You  do  not  take  into  account  our  little  Monitor  and 
her  commander.  The  Monitor  should  be  in 
Hampton  Roads  now.  She  left  New  York  eight 
days  ago.  She  may  be  the  little  stone  in  the  sling 
of  Almighty  God  that  shall  smite  the  Merrimac 
Philistine  in  the  forehead."1 

The  Monitor  was.  John  Ericsson,  her  inventor, 
had  months  before  won  Lincoln's  hearty  approval 
of  his  plan.  Naval  experts  were  not  sure.  Built 
in  New  York,  launched  in  undue  haste,  without  a 
trial  trip,  the  Monitor  made  her  way  to  Hampton 
Roads  slowly  and  with  difficulty.  Sunday  morn 
ing,  March  9,  1862,  at  two  o'clock,  she  hove  to 
beside  the  Minnesota,  which  the  Merrimac  after 
sinking  the  Cumberland  and  wrecking  the  Congress 
the  day  before,  had  badly  damaged.  At  daybreak 
the  Merrimac,  all  unsuspecting,  came  lumbering 
along  to  finish  her  fell  work.  A  little  speck 
emerged  from  out  the  shadow  of  the  Minnesota,  and 
the  naval  duel  then  began  which  closed  one  chapter 
and  opened  another  in  war  on  the  sea.  The  story 
is  familiar.  The  Merrimac  now  lost  all  power  to 
alarm  the  North.  The  blockade  of  the  Southern 
ports  was  ever  afterwards  effective  and  the  real 
danger  that  Europe  would  recognize  the  Con 
federacy  was  forever  gone.  Some  called  it  a  coin- 

1  Crittenden's  Personal  Recollections  of  Lincoln. 


ARMS  AND  THE  MAN  219 

cidence.  Lincoln  said  outright  "the  Monitor  was 
my  inspiration. ' '  He  was  a  simple  Bible  Christian. 
He  read  the  Book  constantly  with  Cruden's  Con 
cordance  ever  on  his  table  to  help  him  understand. 
He  was  not  merely  familiar  with  such  stories  as 
David  and  Goliath  but  he  could  repeat  from 
memory  whole  chapters  from  the  Psalms,  Isaiah, 
and  the  New  Testament.1 

Mystic  though  he  was,  watchful  for  the  hand  of 
God  at  every  turn  of  war,  Lincoln  used  his  native 
common  sense,  always  consecrated  to  his  country's 
welfare.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  clever 
than  his  handling  of  the  case  of  Vallandigham. 
He  sent  him  South  to  stop  his  mischief -making,  at 
a  time  when  the  South  no  more  wanted  him  than 
England  wanted  Benedict  Arnold  in  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  packed  him  off  to  Canada.  When  rumours 
came  to  Lincoln  that  Grant  might  possibly  want 
the  Presidential  nomination  in  1864,  he  was  glad 
to  get  the  word  in  exactly  the  right  way  that  Grant 
wanted  no  change  in  the  Executive.  When  in 
April,  1865,  Jefferson  Davis  slipped  away  from 
Richmond  and  someone  remarked  to  Lincoln  that 
Davis  should  be  hung,  the  President  replied  pre 
cisely,  Charles  Sumner  says,  as  the  Master  would 
reply:  "Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged." 

1  Trevena  Jackson's  Lincoln's  Use  of  the  Bible. 


220  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Some  years  before  the  war,  Lincoln  had  known 
and  admired  the  eloquent  prairie  preacher 
Reverend  James  F.  Jacquess.  He  regarded  him 
as  wise,  sagacious,  and  "God-fearing."  When  in 
the  Civil  War  Jacquess  won  both  a  Colonelcy, 
and  from  Rosecrans  the  remarkable  tribute,  "He 
is  John  Brown  and  Chevalier  Bayard  rolled  into 
one,"  Colonel  Jacquess  suffered  not  in  Lincoln's 
estimation.  We  have  his  story  from  the  man  who 
heard  it  in  detail  from  James  R.  Gilmore,  Jacquess' 
boon  companion.  As  the  Presidential  campaign 
opened  up  in  1864,  the  Peace  Party  in  the  North 
was  unwittingly  strengthening  the  Southern  cause 
and  raising  false  hopes  in  the  mind  of  Jefferson 
Davis.  First  with  the  approval,  unofficial,  of 
course,  of  Rosecrans,  then  of  Lincoln,  whose  na 
tive  shrewdness  saw  the  point,  Colonel  Jacquess — 
later  with  Mr.  Gilmore — went  on  a  peace  mis 
sion  to  Davis  which,  because  Davis  insisted  on 
recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  South,  when 
it  was  reported  in  the  North,  killed  the  Peace 
Party  and  re-elected  Lincoln.  Lincoln  trusted 
Jacquess  because  he  had  been  powerfully  moved 
in  earlier  years  by  Jacquess'  preaching.  In  fact, 
Jacquess,  then  an  old  man,  told  the  Rev.  E.  L. 
Watson  in  Minneapolis  in  1894,  that  Lincoln  had 
been  definitely  converted  to  Christianity  in  1846 


ARMS  AND  THE  MAN  221 

in  Jacquess'  presence  and  repeated  the  story  at  a 
reunion  of  the  73d  Regiment  of  Illinois  Infantry, 
September,  1897,  in  Springfield.  Perhaps  that  is 
why  Lincoln  said  in  letting  Jacquess  go  on  his 
mission  in  1864: 

God  selects  His  own  instruments  and  sometimes 
they  are  queer  ones ;  for  instance,  He  chose  me  to  steer 
the  ship  through  a  great  crisis. 

The  test  of  man's  belief  in  God  is  man's  love  for 
his  fellows.  "He  that  loveth  not  his  brother 
whom  he  hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he 
hath  not  seen?"  Lincoln  never  had  a  more  en 
gaging  friend  than  Edward  D.  Baker.  Far  back 
in  the  forties  they  had  become  friends  in  the  poli 
tics  of  Illinois.  Lincoln  secured  for  Baker  the 
nomination  for  Congress  in  1844.  Later  Baker 
became  United  States  Senator  from  the  new  State 
of  Oregon  and  was  one  of  the  small  group  Lincoln 
called  into  intimate  consultation  at  Springfield, 
after  his  nomination,  for  the  Presidency.  As 
Mr.  Lincoln  arose  at  the  Inauguration  exercises  in 
1860,  his  good  friend,  Senator  Baker,  introduced 
him  to  the  throng. 

In  a  little  while  Baker  exchanged  the  Senator- 
ship  for  a  Colonelcy  in  the  army,  and  on  October 
21,  1861,  he  was  killed  at  Ball's  Bluff.  Charles 


222  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Carleton  Coffin,  who  knew  whereof  he  spoke,  gave 
later  his  deliberate  conviction  that  probably  no 
other  of  "the  many  tragic  events  of  President 
Lincoln's  life  ever  stunned  him  like  that  un 
heralded  message  which  came  over  the  wires  on 
that  mournful  evening  of  October  21,  1861."  As 
Mr.  Lincoln  left  the  room  his  head  was  bowed,  the 
tears  rolled  down  his  furrowed  cheeks,  his  breast 
heaved  with  emotion.  As  he  stepped  into  the 
street,  it  looked  for  a  moment  as  though  he  would 
collapse.  With  both  hands  pressed  to  his  heart, 
he  staggered  on,  not  even  returning  the  salute  of 
the  sentinel  before  the  White  House  door.  He  in 
terpreted  the  friendship  of  God  in  terms  of  human 
friendship.  To  be  on  terms  of  close  friendship 
with  God  and  man  alike  is  to  be  the  kind  of  Chris 
tian  He  pictured  who  once  said:  "Greater  love 
hath  no  man  than  this  that  he  lay  down  his  life 
for  his  friend." 


CHAPTER  XXV 

SIFTING  THE   EVIDENCE 

THE  charges  by  Col.  W.  H.  Layman  and  sup 
ported  to  some  extent  by  Judge  William  H. 
Herndon,  were  that  Lincoln  was  in  fact  an  infidel, 
and  that,  "in  his  morbid  ambition  for  popularity, 
he  played  a  sharp  game  on  the  Christian  com 
munity  by  adjusting  his  religious  sentiments  to 
his  political  interests." 

In  1873,  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Reed,  pastor  at  the  time 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  at  Springfield, 
Illinois,  prepared  a  lecture  refuting  the  charges  of 
Colonel  Layman  and  Judge  Herndon.  This  lecture 
was  published  substantially  as  delivered,  and 
repeated  hundreds  of  times.  No  one  has  ever 
been  able  to  controvert  the  evidence  adduced  by 
Dr.  Reed  touching  the  religious  faith  and  char 
acter  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  preparing  his 
lecture  Mr.  Reed  took  the  pains  to  procure  letters 
from  men  who  were  quite  as  intimate  with  Lincoln 
as  were  Layman  and  Herndon.  The  world  is  in 
debted  to  Mr.  Reed  for  his  original  research,  made 

223 


224  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

within  the  decade  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  death,  when 
the  facts  were  fresh  in  the  minds  of  men  then 
living. 

Mr.  Reed  makes  the  point  at  the  outset  that 
even  Layman  admits  that  there  did  come  a  time 
in  Mr.  Lincoln's  life  at  Springfield  when,  not 
withstanding  his  alleged  skepticism,  he  began  to 
affiliate  with  Christian  people  and  to  give  his  per 
sonal  presence  and  support  to  the  church.  Lay 
man  could  account  for  this  alleged  change  only  by 
accusing  Lincoln  of  double-dealing  in  regard  to 
religion,  a  charge  so  at  variance  with  Lincoln's 
well-known  love  of  frankness  and  sincerity  that  it 
falls  to  the  ground  with  its  own  weight  of  falsehood. 

Layman  and  Herndon  themselves  are  loud  in 
their  praise  of  Lincoln's  singular  conscientiousness 
and  integrity.  They  seek  to  draw  a  line  between 
the  secular  and  the  religious.  They  make  him 
secularly  a  man  almost  perfect,  yet  capable  of  de 
ceiving  his  friends  by  concealing  from  them  his 
skepticism — which  would  have  been  hypocrisy. 
Judge  Herndon  writes: 

Lincoln  was  justly  entitled  to  the  appellation 
"  Honest  Abe."  Honesty  was  his  pole  star;  conscience, 
the  faculty  that  loves  the  just  and  right,  was  the 
second  great  quality  and  forte  of  Lincoln's  character. 
He  had  a  deep,  broad,  living  conscience.  His  great 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  225 

reason  told  him  what  was  true  and  good,  right  and 
wrong,  just  and  unjust,  and  his  conscience  echoed 
back  the  decision,  and  it  was  from  this  point  he  spoke, 
and  wove  his  character  and  fame  among  us. 

Layman  shows  that  Lincoln  scorned  everything 
deceitful,  that  he  would  not  even  undertake  to 
plead  a  bad  case  before  a  jury.  Layman  quotes 
Lincoln's  fellow-lawyers  as  saying  that,  for  a  man 
who  was  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  both  a  lawyer 
and  a  politician,  Lincoln  was  the  most  honest  man 
they  had  ever  known;  that  he  could  not  reason 
falsely ;  that  if  he  attempted  he  failed ;  that  in  poli 
tics  he  would  never  try  to  mislead;  and  that,  at 
the  bar,  when  he  thought  he  was  wrong  he  was  the 
weakest  lawyer  they  ever  knew.  Therefore,  the 
allegations  that  Abraham  Lincoln  practised  de 
ception  in  regard  to  his  religious  views  have  but  to 
be  stated  to  suggest  their  own  refutation  and  are 
in  fact  refuted  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  men  who 
make  them. 

Mr.  Reed  in  his  lecture  shows  that  Lincoln, 
during  his  life  in  Springfield,  attended  church,  de 
livered  Sunday-School  addresses,  speeches  before 
the  Bible  Society,  and  evinced  in  every  way  the 
conduct  of  a  man  who  was  leading  a  Christian  life. 
He  also  showed  that  the  principal  persons  whose 
testimony  is  given  by  Layman  and  Herndon  to 

25 


226  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

establish  the  charge  of  Lincoln's  hypocrisy  in  re 
ligious  matters  were  falsely  quoted.  Two,  who 
stand  first  on  the  list  of  such  inaccurately  quoted 
testimony,  are  John  T.  Stuart,  a  former  member  of 
Congress  and  Lincoln's  first  law  partner,  and  Col. 
James  H.  Matheny,  a  lawyer  of  Springfield  and 
an  intimate  friend  of  Lincoln's.  In  answer  to  Mr- 
Reed's  inquiry,  the  following  letter  was  received : 


SPRINGFIELD, 
December  17, 1872. 

REV.  J.  A.  REED, 
Dear  Sir: 

My  attention  has  been  called  to  a  statement  in 
relation  to  the  religious  opinions  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  pur 
porting  to  have  been  made  by  us,  and  published  in 
Layman's  Life  of  Lincoln.  The  language  of  that 
statement  is  not  mine.  It  was  not  written  by  me,  and 
I  did  not  see  it  until  it  was  in  print.  I  was  once 
interviewed  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  religious 
opinions,  and  doubtless  said  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in 
the  earlier  part  of  his  life  an  infidel.  I  could  not  have 
said  that  Dr.  Smith  tried  to  convert  Lincoln  from  in 
fidelity  so  late  as  1858,  and  could  not  do  it.  In  rela 
tion  to  that  point  I  stated  in  the  same  conversation 
some  facts  which  are  omitted  in  that  statement,  and 
which  I  will  briefly  repeat :  that  Eddie,  a  child  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's,  died  in  1848  or  1849,  and  that  he  and  his 
wife  were  in  deep  grief  on  that  account;  that  Dr. 
Smith,  then  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  227 

Springfield,  at  the  suggestion  of  a  lady  friend  of  theirs, 
called  upon  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  that  first  visit 
resulted  in  great  intimacy  and  friendship  between 
them,  lasting  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  con 
tinuing  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  till  the  death  of  Dr.  Smith. 
I  stated  that  I  had  heard  at  the  time  that  Dr.  Smith 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  had  much  discussion  in  relation  to  the 
truth  of  the  Christian  religion  and  that  Dr.  Smith  had 
furnished  Mr.  Lincoln  with  books  to  read  on  the  sub 
ject,  and  among  others,  one  that  had  been  written  by 
himself  some  time  previously,  on  infidelity,  and  that 
Dr.  Smith  claimed  that  after  this  investigation  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  changed  his  opinions  and  had  become  a 
believer  in  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion;  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  myself  never  conversed  on  the  sub 
ject,  and  I  had  no  personal  knowledge  as  to  his  alleged 
change  of  opinion.  I  stated,  however,  that  it  was 
certainly  true  that  up  to  that  time  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
never  regularly  attended  any  place  of  religious 
worship,  but  that  after  that  time  he  rented  a  pew  in 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  that  his  family 
constantly  attended  the  worship  in  that  church  until 
he  went  to  Washington  as  President.  This  much  I 
said  at  that  time,  and  can  now  add  that  the  Hon. 
Ninian  W.  Edwards,  the  brother-in-law  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  had  within  a  few  days  informed  me  that  when 
Mr.  Lincoln  commenced  attending  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  he  admitted  to  him  that  his  views  had 
undergone  the  change  claimed  by  Dr.  Smith.  I  would 
further  say  that  Dr.  Smith  was  a  man  of  very  great 
ability  and  that  on  theological  and  metaphysical 
subjects,  had  few  superiors  and  not  many  equals. 
Truthfulness  was  a  prominent  trait  in  Mr.  Lincoln's 
character  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  any  intimate 


228  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

friend  of  his  to  believe  that  he  ever  aimed  to  deceive, 
either  by  his  words  or  his  conduct. 

Yours  truly, 

JOHN  T.  STUART. 

The  second  important  witness  cited  by  Mr. 
Reed  is  Colonel  Matheny,  who  wrote: 

SPRINGFIELD, 
December  16,  1872. 
REV.  J.  A.  REED, 

Dear  Sir: 

The  language  attributed  to  me  in  Mr.  Layman's 
book  is  not  from  my  pen.  I  did  not  write  it,  and  it 
does  not  express  my  sentiments  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  life 
and  character.  It  is  a  mere  collection  of  sayings 
gathered  from  private  conversations,  that  were  only 
true  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  earlier  life.  I  would  not  have 
allowed  such  an  article  to  be  printed  over  my  signa 
ture  as  covering  my  opinion  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  life  and 
religious  sentiments.  While  I  do  believe  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  have  been  an  infidel  in  his  former  life,  when  his 
mind  was  as  yet  unformed  and  his  association  prin 
cipally  with  rough  and  skeptical  men,  yet  I  believe 
that  he  was  a  very  different  man  in  later  life,  and  that 
after  associating  with  a  different  class  of  men  and 
investigating  the  subject,  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  the 
Christian  religion. 

Yours  truly, 

JAMES  H.  MATHENY. 

Lincoln's  final  attainment  of  complete  belief  in 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  divine  Son  of  God  finds  ample 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  229 

proof  in  the  report  by  Newton  Bateman,  Super 
intendent  of  Public  Instruction  for  the  State  of 
Illinois.  Mr.  Bateman  occupied  a  room  in  the 
Capitol  adjoining,  and  opening  into,  the  Executive 
Chamber.  The  door  between  the  two  rooms  was 
frequently  open  during  Mr.  Lincoln's  receptions, 
and  the  two  men  saw  each  other  nearly  every  day. 
This  was  during  Mr.  Lincoln's  Presidential  cam 
paign  in  1860.  Often  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  tired 
he  would  close  the  door  against  all  intrusion  and 
call  Mr.  Bateman  in  for  a  quiet  talk. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  Mr.  Lincoln  took  up 
a  book  containing  the  result  of  a  careful  canvass 
of  the  city  of  Springfield,  showing  the  candidate 
for  whom  each  citizen  had  declared  his  intention 
to  vote  at  the  approaching  election.  This  was 
toward  the  close  of  October,  within  a  few  days  of 
the  election.  Calling  Mr.  Bateman  to  his  side,  he 
said :  '  *  Let  us  look  over  this  book.  I  wish  particu 
larly  to  see  how  the  ministers  of  Springfield  are 
going  to  vote."  As  the  leaves  were  turned,  one 
by  one,  Mr.  Lincoln  frequently  asked  if  this  one 
or  that  one  were  not  a  minister,  or  an  elder,  or  a 
member  of  such  and  such  a  church,  and  sadly 
expressed .  his  surprise  on  receiving  an  affirmative 
answer.  After  they  had  gone  through  the  book, 
Lincoln  closed  it  and  regarded  in  silence  for  some 


230  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

moments  a  pencil  memorandum  which  lay  before 
him.  At  length  he  turned  to  Mr.  Bateman,  his 
face  full  of  sadness,  and  said : 

Here  are  twenty -three  ministers  of  different  de 
nominations,  and  all  of  them  are  against  me,  but 
three.  And  there  are  a  great  many  prominent  mem 
bers  of  the  churches,  a  very  large  majority  of  whom 
are  against  me.  Mr.  Bateman,  I  am  not  a  Christian; 
God  knows  I  would  be  one,  but  I  have  carefully  read 
the  Bible  and  I  do  not  so  understand  this  Book, 
[drawing  from  his  bosom  a  pocket  New  Testament]. 
These  men  well  know  [he  continued]  that  I  am 
for  freedom  in  the  territories,  freedom  everywhere  as 
far  as  the  Constitution  and  laws  will  permit,  and  my 
opponents  are  for  slavery.  They  know  this,  and  yet, 
with  this  Book  in  their  hands,  in  the  light  of  which 
human  bondage  cannot  live  a  moment,  they  are  going 
to  vote  against  me.  I  do  not  understand  it  at  all. 

Here  Mr.  Lincoln  paused  for  long  minutes,  his 
features  surcharged  with  emotion.  He  then  arose 
and  walked  up  and  down  the  room  in  an  effort  to 
retain,  or  regain,  his  self-possession.  Stopping  at 
last,  he  said  in  a  trembling  voice,  his  cheeks  wet 
with  tears : 

I  know  there  is  a  God,  and  that  He  hates  injustice 
and  slavery.  I  see  the  storm  coming,  and  I  know  that 
His  hand  is  in  it.  If  He  has  a  place  and  work  for  me, 
and  I  think  He  has,  I  believe  I  am  ready.  I  am  no 
thing,  but  truth  is  everything.  I  know  I  am  right,  be- 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  231 

cause  I  know  that  liberty  is  right,  for  Christ  teaches 
it,  and  Christ  is  God.  I  have  told  them  that  a  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,  and  Christ  and 
reason  say  the  same,  and  they  will  find  it  so.  Doug 
las  don't  care  whether  slavery  is  voted  up  or  down, 
but  God  cares  and  humanity  cares,  and  I  care,  and 
with  God's  help,  I  shall  not  fail.  I  may  not  see  the 
end,  but  it  will  come,  and  I  shall  be  vindicated,  and 
these  men  will  find  that  they  have  not  read  their  Bible 
aright. 

Much  of  this  was  uttered  as  if  he  were  speaking 
to  himself,  and  with  a  sad  and  earnest  solemnity 
of  manner  impossible  to  describe.  After  a  pause, 
he  resumed : 

Doesn't  it  appear  strange  that  men  can  ignore  the 
moral  aspects  of  this  contest  ?  A  revelation  could  not 
make  it  plainer  to  me  that  slavery  or  the  Government 
must  be  destroyed.  The  future  would  be  something 
awful,  as  I  look  at  it,  but  for  this  rock  on  which  I 
stand  [alluding  to  the  Testament  which  he  held  in  his 
hand]  especially  with  the  knowledge  of  how  these 
ministers  are  going  to  vote.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  God 
had  borne  with  this  thing,  slavery,  until  the  very 
teachers  of  religion  have  come  to  defend  it  from  their 
Bible  and  to  claim  for  it  a  divine  character  and  sanc 
tion,  and  now  the  cup  of  iniquity  is  full  and  the  vial  of 
wrath  will  be  poured  out. 

His  last  reference  was  to  certain  prominent 
clergymen  of  the  South,  and  Lincoln  went  on  to 


232  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

comment  on  the  atrociousness  and  essential 
blasphemy  of  their  attempts  to  defend  American 
slavery  from  the  Bible.  The  conversation  was 
continued  for  a  long  time.  Everything  he  said 
was  of  a  peculiarly  deep,  tender,  and  religious  tone, 
and  was  all  tinged  with  a  touch  of  melancholy. 
He  repeatedly  referred  to  his  conviction  that  the 
day  of  wrath  was  at  hand,  and  that  he  was  to  be 
an  actor  in  the  terrible  struggle  which  would  issue 
in  the  overthrow  of  slavery,  though  he  might  not 
live  to  see  the  end.  He  repeated  many  passages 
in  the  Bible,  and  seemed  especially  impressed 
with  the  solemn  grandeur  of  portions  of  Revela 
tion,  describing  the  wrath  of  Almighty  God.  In 
the  course  of  the  conversation,  he  dwelt  much 
upon  the  necessity  of  faith  in  the  Christian's  God, 
as  an  element  of  successful  statesmanship,  es 
pecially  in  times  like  those  which  were  upon  him, 
and  said  that  it  gave  that  calmness  and  tranquillity 
of  mind,  that  assurance  of  ultimate  success  which 
made  a  man  firm  and  immovable  amid  the  wildest 
excitements.  After  further  reference  to  a  belief 
in  divine  Providence  and  the  fact  of  God  in  his 
tory,  the  conversation  turned  upon  prayer.  He 
frequently  stated  his  belief  in  the  duty,  privilege, 
and  efficacy  of  prayer,  and  intimated  in  unmis 
takable  terms  that  he  had  sought  in  that  way  the 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  233 

divine  guidance  and  favour.  As  the  two  men  were 
about  to  separate,  Mr.  Bateman  remarked : 

1 '  I  had  not  supposed  that  you  were  accustomed 
to  think  so  much  on  this  class  of  subject;  certainly 
your  friends  generally  are  ignorant  of  the  senti 
ments  you  have  expressed  to  me." 

He  replied  quickly:  "I  know  they  are.  I  am 
obliged  to  appear  different  to  them;  but  I  think 
more  on  these  subjects  than  upon  all  others,  and  I 
have  done  so  for  years,  and  I  am  willing  that  you 
should  know  it." 

This  remarkable  conversation  as  set  forth  in 
Holland's  Life  of  Lincoln,  furnishes  a  golden  link 
in  the  chain  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  religious  history. 
It  flashes  a  strong  light  upon  the  path  he  had 
already  trod,  and  illuminate;  e/ery  page  of  his 
subsequent  record.  Mf  n  have  wondered  at  his 
abounding  charity,  his  Ic  /e  of  man,  his  equanimity 
under  trying  circumstances,  his  patience  under 
insult  and  defamation,  his  delicate  consideration 
of  the  feelings  of  the  humble,  his  apparent  in 
capacity  for  resentment,  his  love  of  justice,  his 
transparent  simplicity,  his  truthfulness,  his  good 
will  toward  his  enemies,  his  beautiful  and  un 
shaken  faith  in  the  triumph  of  the  right.  There 
was  undoubtedly  something  in  his  constitution  that 
favoured  the  development  of  these  qualities.  But 


234  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

those  best  acquainted  with  human  nature  will 
hardly  attribute  the  combination  of  excellencies 
exhibited  in  his  character  and  life  to  the  unaided 
forces  of  his  constitution.  The  man  who  carried 
what  he  called  "this  Rock"  in  his  bosom,  prayed 
and  thought  more  on  religious  subjects  than  on  all 
others,  r  ad  an  undying  faith  in  the  Providence  of 
God,  drew  his  spiritual  life  and  his  many  virtues 
from  above . 

Some  who  have  claimed  that  Lincoln  was  an 
agnostic  have  sought  to  break  the  force  of  this 
Bateman  interview  by  boldly  denying  its  au 
thenticity;  but  Bateman  himself  would  never  put 
out  a  denial,  though  often  urged  to  do  so.  In 
response  to  a  direct  question  from  Isaac  T.  Ar 
nold,  author  of  L'fe  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Mr. 
Bateman  replied,  '  The  interview  as  published 
by  Holland  is  substar  dally  correct."  There 
is  ample  internal  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the 
story.  Bateman  and  Lincoln  were  known  to  be 
very  intimate  friends  and  much  in  each  other's 
confidence.  The  utterances  ascribed  to  Mr.  Lin 
coln  are  known  to  be  in  keeping  with  his  life  and 
character.  He  was  not  a  man  to  parade  his  own 
virtue  or  morality  or  to  make  public  display  of  his 
religious  convictions.  It  is  possible  in  estimating 
such  a  personality  to  overestimate  chronology. 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  235 

The  point  is,  the  sweep  of  Lincoln's  life  was  to 
ward  a  complete  faith  in  God  perfectly  illustrated 
only  in  the  life  and  works  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Bishop  Charles  H.  Fowler,  in  his  Patriotic  Ora 
tions,  quotes  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newell  Dwight  Hillis  as 
saying : 

I  have  a  woman  in  my  congregation  who  is  the 
daughter  of  the  Presbyterian  minister  in  whose 
church  Mr.  Lincoln  worshipped  during  the  war.  She 
says:  "Mr.  Lincoln  frequently  came  to  our  house  in 
the  evening,  stopped  at  our  door,  and  said  to  my 
father,  Doctor,  you  must  pray  tonight.  One  night  he 
called  at  half-past  one,  called  my  father  up  and  said, 
Doctor,  you  must  come  down  and  go  to  my  room  withme. 
I  need  you.  My  father  went  and  found  Mr.  Lincoln's 
room  strewn  with  maps,  where  he  was  marking  out  the 
movements  of  troops.  He  said  to  my  father,  'There 
is  your  room.  You  go  in  there  and  pray,  and  I  will 
stay  here  and  watch.'  My  father  heard  him  repeatedly 
praying  for  the  Army.  Three  times  he  came  to  my 
father's  room  and  fell  down  on  his  face  on  the  floor  by 
his  side  and  prayed  mightily  to  God  to  bless  the  boys 
about  to  die  for  the  Republic,  and  to  save  the 
Republic." 

Mr.  Herndon,  with  the  evident  purpose  of  re- 
enforcing  his  contention  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a 
disbeliever,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Smith,  whose  relations  with  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his 
family  while  he  was  pastor  of  the  First  Presby- 


236  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

terian  Church  of  Springfield,   has  already  been 
mentioned,  and  received  the  following  reply : 

EAST  CAINO,  SCOTLAND, 
24th  January,  1867. 

W.  H.  HERNDON,  Esq., 

Sir: 

Your  letter  of  the  2Oth  of  December  was  duly 
received,  in  which  you  ask  me  to  answer  several  ques 
tions  in  relation  to  the  illustrious  President ,  Abraham 
Lincoln.  With  regard  to  your  second  question,  I  beg 
leave  to  say  it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  prove  that 
while  I  was  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Springfield,  Mr.  Lincoln  did  avow  his  belief  in  the 
divine  authority  and  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 
And  I  hold  that  it  is  a  matter  of  greatest  importance, 
not  only  to  the  present  but  to  all  future  generations  of 
the  great  Republic  and  to  all  advocates  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  throughout  the  world,  that  this 
avowal  on  his  part  and  the  circumstances  attending 
it,  together  with  very  interesting  incidents  illustrative 
of  the  excellence  of  his  character  in  my  possession 
should  be  made  known  to  the  public. 

My  intercourse  with  Abraham  Lincoln  convinced 
me  that  he  v/a>  not  only  an  honest  man,  but  pre 
eminently  an  upright  man,  ever  seeking,  so  far  as  was 
in  his  power,  to  render  unto  all  their  due.  It  was  my 
honour  to  place  before  Mr.  Lincoln  arguments  de 
signed  to  prove  the  divine  authority  and  inspiration  of 
the  Scriptures,  accompanied  by  arguments  of  infidel 
objectors  in  their  own  language.  To  the  arguments 
on  both  sides,  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  a  most  patient  and 
searching  investigation.  To  use  his  own  language, 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  237 

he  examined  the  arguments  as  a  lawyer  who  is  anxious 
to  reach  the  truth  investigates  testimony.  The  re 
sult  was  the  announcement  by  himself  that  the  argu 
ment  in  favour  of  the  divine  authority  and  inspiration 
of  the  Scriptures  was  unanswerable.  I  could  say 
much  more  on  the  subject,  but  as  you  are  the  person 
addressed,  for  the  present  I  decline.  The  assassin 
Booth,  by  his  diabolical  act,  unwittingly  sent  the  il 
lustrious  martyr  to  glory,  honour,  and  immortality, 
but  his  false  friend  has  attempted  to  send  him  down 
to  posterity  with  infamy  branded  on  his  forehead,  as 
a  man  who,  notwithstanding  all  he  suffered  for  his 
country's  good,  was  destitute  to  those  feelings  and 
affections  without  which  there  can  be  no  excellency 
of  character.  Sir,  I  am,  with  due  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  SMITH. 


And  the  most  convincing  fact  cited  by  Dr. 
Smith  was  contained  in  a  postscript  to  this  letter, 
in  which  he  avers  that  shortly  after  becoming  a 
member  of  his  congregation  in  Springfield,  Mr. 
Lincoln  delivered,  before  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Bible  Society  of  Springfield,  an  address  the 
subject  of  which  was  to  inculcate  the  importance 
of  having  the  Bible  placed  in  the  possession  of 
every  family  in  the  State.  In  his  address,  Mr. 
Lincoln  drew  a  striking  contrast  between  the  Deca 
logue  and  the  moral  codes  of  the  most  eminent 
lawgivers  of  antiquity,  closing  with  these  words : 


238  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN—MAN  OF  GOD 

It  seems  to  me  that  nothing  short  of  infinite  wisdom 
could  by  any  possibility  have  devised  and  given  to  man 
this  excellent  and  perfect  moral  code.  It  is  suited 
to  man  in  all  conditions  of  life,  and  includes  all  the 
duties  they  owe  to  their  Creator,  to  themselves  and 
to  their  fellow-man. 


Some  may  conclude  that  Lincoln  was  converted 
to  a  theological  belief  in  the  divine  authority  and 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  by  Dr.  Smith's  argu 
ment.  But  long  before  he  had  ever  seen  Dr.  Smith 
he  had  given  evidence  of  the  most  convincing 
nature  of  his  ingrained  belief  in  the  essential  prin 
ciples  of  Christianity.  His  earlier  relations  to 
God  were  obviously  more  a  religion  of  the  heart, 
while  his  later  studies  of  the  evidence  supporting 
religious  belief  added  to  the  emotions  of  the  heart 
the  approval  of  a  trained  intellect.  Under  pres 
sure  from  Herndon,  Mr.  Bateman  for  a  time  re 
mained  silent  concerning  his  reported  interview 
with  Mr.  Lincoln.  But  his  ultimate  reaffirmation 
was  that  his  first  report  was  substantially  correct, 
and  Dr.  Barton  in  his  Soul  of  Lincoln  admits  that 
"the  incident  had  a  basis  in  fact." 

After  Lincoln's  first  inaugural  address  as  Presi 
dent,  his  pastor  in  Washington  was  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Gurley,  a  sound  and  orthodox  minister  of  the 
Gospel.  Dr.  Gurley  was  Lin  corn's  friend  and 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  239 

spiritual  adviser  during  the  most  trying  period  of 
his  life.  He  was  with  Mr.  Lincoln  during  the  hours 
of  his  personal  and  family  bereavement,  as  well  as 
when  his  heart  was  burdened  with  the  affairs  of  the 
Nation.  Dr.  Gurley  delivered  Lincoln's  funeral 
oration  in  the  City  of  Washington,  in  which  he  said : 

Since  the  days  of  Washington,  no  man  was  ever  so 
deeply  and  firmly  imbedded  and  enshrined  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  as  Abraham  Lincoln;  nor  was  it 
a  mistaken  confidence  and  love.  He  deserves  it  all. 
He  merited  by  his  character,  by  his  acts,  and  by  the 
whole  tone  and  tenor  of  his  life.  His  integrity  was 
thorough,  all  pervading,  all  controlling,  and  incorrupt 
ible.  He  saw  his  duty  as  the  chief  magistrate  of  a 
great  and  imperilled  people,  and  he  determined  to  do 
his  duty,  seeking  the  guidance  and  leaning  on  the 
arm  of  Him  of  Whom  it  is  written:  "He  giveth  to  the 
faint,  and  to  them  who  have  no  might  He  increaseth 
strength."  Never  shall  I  forget  the  emphatic  and 
deep  emotion  with  which  he  said,  in  this  very  room 
to  a  company  of  clergymen  who  had  called  to  pay 
their  respects  to  him  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  civil 
conflict.  "Gentlemen,  my  hope  of  success  in  this 
struggle  rests  on  that  immutable  foundation,  the  justice 
and  goodness  of  God,  and  when  events  are  very 
threatening,  I  still  hope  that  in  some  way  all  will  be 
on  our  side." 

In  conversation  with  Mr.  Reed,  Dr.  Gurley,  when 
his  attention  was  called  to  the  rumour  of  Lincoln's 
infidelity,  then  being  circulated  by  Herndon,  said : 


240  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

I  do  not  believe  a  word  of  it.  It  would  not  have 
been  true  of  him  while  he  was  here,  for  I  have  had 
frequent  and  intimate  conversations  with  him  on  the 
subject  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  Christian  religion, 
when  he  could  have  had  no  motive  to  deceive  me,  and 
I  consider  him  sound,  not  only  in  the  truths  of  the 
Christian  religion,  but  on  all  the  fundamental  doc 
trines  and  teachings ;  and  more  than  that,  in  the  later 
days  of  his  chastened  and  weary  life,  after  the  death  of 
his  son  Willie  and  his  visit  to  the  battlefield  of  Gettys 
burg,  he  said,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  he  had  lost 
confidence  in  everything  but  God,  and  that  he  now 
believed  his  heart  was  changed  and  that  he  loved  the 
Saviour. 

Noah  Brooks,  one  of  Lincoln's  biographers  and 
an  intimate  friend,  had  frequent  conversations 
with  the  President  on  social  and  religious  matters. 
Brooks  was  accredited  by  some  with  knowing  more 
of  the  secret  inner  life  and  religious  views  of  Lin 
coln  than  any  other  man.  He  reports  several  in 
stances  in  which  Lincoln  put  himself  on  record  as  a 
whole-hearted  Christian  believer. *  The  following 
letter  by  Mr.  Brooks  is  illuminating : 

NEW  YORE, 
December  31,  1878. 
Rev.  J.  A.  REED, 
My  dear  Sir: 

In  addition  to  what  has  appeared  from  my  pen,  I 
will  state  that  I  have  had  many  conversations  with 

1  Harpers1  Magazine,  July,  1865. 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  241 

Mr.  Lincoln  which  were  more  or  less  of  a  religious 
character;  and  while  I  never  tried  to  draw  anything 
like  a  statement  of  his  views  from  him,  yet  he  fre 
quently  expressed  himself  to  me  as  having  a  blessed 
hope  of  immortality  through  Jesus  Christ.  His  faith 
seemed  to  settle  so  naturally  around  that  statement 
that  I  considered  no  other  necessary.  His  language 
seemed  not  that  of  an  inquirer,  but  of  one  who  had 
a  prior  settled  belief  in  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Christian  religion.  He  said  that  after  he  went 
to  the  White  House,  he  kept  up  the  habit  of  daily 
prayer.  Sometimes  he  said  it  was  only  ten  words,  but 
those  ten  words  he  had.  There  is  no  possible  reason 
to  suppose  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  ever  deceive  me 
as  to  his  religious  sentiments.  In  many  conversa 
tions  with  him,  I  absorbed  the  firm  conviction  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  at  heart  a  Christian  man,  believing 
in  the  Saviour,  and  was  seriously  considering  the  step 
which  would  formally  connect  him  with  the  visible 
church  on  earth.  Certainly  any  suggestion  as  to  Mr. 
Lincoln's  skepticism  or  infidelity,  to  me  who  knew 
him  intimately  from  1862  to  the  time  of  his  death,  is 
a  monstrous  fiction,  a  shocking  perversion. 

Yours  truly, 

NOAH  BROOKS. 

To  the  Hon.  C.  H.  Deming,  of  Kentucky,  Mr. 
Lincoln  said  that  the  article  of  his  faith  was  con 
tained  in  the  condensed  statement  of  both  law  and 
gospel:  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with 
all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself." 

16 


242  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

When  Lincoln  seriously  contemplated  the  issue 
of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  in  the  autumn 
of  1862,  the  Rev.  Byron  Sutherland,  of  Washing 
ton,  D.  C.,  quotes  Lincoln  as  saying: 

I  believe  we  are  all  agents  and  instruments  of 
Divine  Providence.  I  hold  myself  in  my  present 
position  and  with  the  authority  invested  in  me,  as 
an  instrument  of  Providence.  I  am  conscious  every 
moment  that  all  I  am  and  all  I  have  are  subject 
to  the  control  of  a  higher  Power,  and  that  Power 
can  use  me  or  not  use  me  in  any  manner  and  at 
any  time  as  in  His  wisdom  might  be  pleasing  to 
Him. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Miner,  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  Springfield,  visited  Lincoln  and  his 
family  in  Washington  a  short  time  before  the 
assassination.  He  tells  of  a  conversation  he  had 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  so  deeply  engraven  on  his  mind 
that  he  never  could  forget  it.  Dr.  Miner  was 
convinced  that  Lincoln  showed  his  faith  both  by 
his  words  and  his  acts.  His  conversation  in 
dicated  that  he  was  doing  his  duty,  as  he  saw  it, 
and  daily  looking  to  God  for  help  in  time  of  need. 
"Like  the  immortal  George  Washington,"  writes 
Dr.  Miner,  "Lincoln  believed  in  the  efficacy  of 
prayer,  and  it  was  his  custom  to  read  the  Scriptures 
and  pray." 


SIFTING  THE  EVIDENCE  243 

These  specific  proofs  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  firm  be 
lief  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  of  the  orderly 
development  from  the  simple  faith  of  his  emo 
tional  childhood  to  the  tested  knowledge  of  his 
mature  manhood,  are  not  more  convincing  than 
those  heretofore  presented,  but  are  offered  to  the 
students  of  Lincoln's  life,  and  to  the  defendant  of 
his  faith,  as  a  condensed  statement  covering  the 
entire  range  of  his  career,  from  the  prairies  of 
Illinois  to  the  Capitol  of  the  nation.  Let  the 
student  of  Lincoln's  life  divest  the  subject  of  all 
argument  and  controversy,  and  consider  simply 
what  Lincoln  was,  what  he  said  and  did,  and  the 
conviction  will  be  irresistible  that  he  saw  God, 
first  in  the  works  of  nature,  and  then  as  his  own 
personal  Comforter  and  Guide,  and  finally  as  the 
Nation's  Leader  during  the  tempestuous  days  of 
the  Civil  War. 

That  Mr.  Lincoln  at  times  had  doubts  does  not 
mean  that  he  was  an  infidel.  That  he  sometimes 
went  afield  in  the  fog  of  puzzling  questions  does 
not  indicate  confirmed  skepticism.  What  stu 
dent,  even  in  a  divinity  school,  passes  through  his 
period  of  quest  for  truth  without  being  harassed 
with  doubts  that  try  his  soul  ?  What  faith  is  worth 
the  having  in  times  of  stress  that  has  not  been 
tested  as  by  the  refiner's  fire? 


244  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

He  fought  his  doubts,  and  gathered  strength, 
He  would  not  make  his  judgment  blind, 
He  faced  the  spectres  of  his  mind 
And  laid  them ;  thus  he  came  at  last 
To  find  a  stronger  faith  his  own ; 
And  power  was  with  him  in  the  night, 
Which  makes  the  darkness  and  the  light 
And  dwells  not  in  the  light  alone. l 

1  Tennyson's  In  Memoriam. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

A  TEACHER  UNTAUGHT  OF  MEN 

LINCOLN'S  religious  evolution  kept  pace  with 
his  mental  growth,  the  outcome  of  a  deep  delving 
into  the  fundamental  truths  of  life.  And  as  he 
studied,  he  sought  to  find,  not  the  mere  doctrinal 
forms  of  ecclesiastical  life  as  formulated  in  or 
thodox  theology,  but  rather  the  practical  princi 
ples,  applicable  alike  to  religion  and  to  all  other 
concerns  of  life. 

But  Lincoln  was  no  more  orthodox  in  his  poli 
tical  and  economic  beliefs  than  in  his  religious 
faith.  He  no  more  accepted  the  formulated 
statements  of  previous  political  parties  than  he 
accepted  the  formulated  doctrines  of  denomina 
tions.  Mr.  Lincoln  believed  in,  and  practised,  the 
things  in  orthodoxy  that  were  simple,  substantial, 
and  humane;  but  with  profound  insight,  he  never 
failed  to  separate  the  essential  from  the  non- 
essential,  the  transitory  form  the  permanent.  As 
he  was  largely  instrumental  in  the  creation  of  a 
political  party  that  conserved  all  the  sound  prin- 

245 


246  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

ciples  already  formulated  by  political  parties,  and, 
in  addition,  incorporated  new  and  even  startling 
political  doctrines,  so  would  he,  had  that  been  his 
province,  have  conserved  all  the  essential  truths 
of  religion  contained  in  the  creeds  of  the  churches 
and,  with  them,  combined  other  great  spiritual 
ideas  as  yet  unexpressed  in  any  formal  articles  of 
faith.  And  as  his  political  doctrines  were  so 
sound  and  sensible  that  they  are  now  appro 
priated  by  parties  of  all  shades  of  political 
belief,  so  the  religious  faith  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  had  he  ever  formulated  it,  would  have 
commanded  the  respect  of  Christian  organizations 
of  all  types. 

No  man  ever  lived  who  was  more  devoted  than 
Lincoln  to  obedience  to  properly  constituted  au 
thority;  and  yet,  all  unconsciously,  he  was,  in  a 
large  measure,  a  law  unto  himself,  sui  generis,  no 
less  in  politics  and  letters  than  in  religion.  He 
knew  practically  nothing  of  the  writings  of  the 
distinguished  group  of  American  men  of  letters 
contemporary  with  himself,  such  as  Bryant,  Poe, 
Hawthorne,  Emerson,  Lowell,  Whittier,  Holmes, 
Longfellow,  and  Thoreau.  It  is  certain  that  he 
was  not  at  all  familiar  with  their  works  during  the 
formative  period  of  his  career,  and  if  he  read  them 
later  in  life  he  gave  scant  evidence  of  it  in  his 


A  TEACHER  UNTAUGHT  OF  MEN  247 

utterance.  These  men  of  letters,  breathing  the 
same  literary  atmosphere,  undoubtedly  helped 
to  mould  and  influence  one  another.  They  were 
men  of  technical  literary  education,  widely  read; 
and  masters  of  style.  Their  workmanship,  though 
varying  greatly,  conformed  in  the  main  to  certain 
literary  standards.  The  literary  children  of  the 
period,  they  became  the  literary  parents  of  the 
succeeding  generation.  Their  writings  were  origi 
nal,  brilliant,  elevated  in  thought,  rhythmic,  ethi 
cal  and  founded  on  well-known  classic  models. 
He  did  not  come  under  their  influence,  read  their 
books,  imitate  their  style,  or  borrow  their  colouring. 
He  had  no  conscious  literary  models,  nor  the  in 
spiration  of  learned  associations.  While  an  Emer 
son  was  profiting  by  the  personal  acquaintance  of 
Lowell,  while  the  melancholy  Hawthorne  was 
basking  in  the  sunny  smiles  of  Holmes,  Lincoln 
was  sitting  on  a  soap  box  in  a  cross-roads  grocery, 
talking  with  carpenters  and  farmers,  and  then  re 
turning  to  his  crude  home  to  read  his  Bible.  While 
the  New  England  masters  of  a  nation's  literature 
were  hearing  the  erudite  sermons  of  preachers, 
who  themselves  were  acknowledged  masters  of 
literary  style,  Lincoln  was  listening  to  the  frontier 
preachers  whose  camp-meeting  sermons  aimed  at 
immediate  spiritual  results;  himself,  the  while, 


248  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

delving  to  the  bottom  of  things  and  discovering 
truth  at  its  very  source. 

Lincoln  had  not  the  advantage  of  a  knowledge 
of  foreign  languages.  What  he  knew  of  English 
construction  he  gained  from  study  of  only  a  few 
books,  and  that  without  the  aid  of  instructors. 
But  such  works  as  he  was  able  to  obtain — the 
Bible,  Shakespeare,  Bunyan — were  something 
more  than  classics.  They  reached  down  to  the 
roots  of  things.  The  language  they  employed  was 
not  for  show,  nor  yet  to  gratify  a  fastidious  literary- 
taste,  but  for  the  revelation  of  the  hidden  truths  of 
Nature,  the  heights  and  depths  of  human  emo 
tion — language  that  touched  the  soul  as  with 
divine  fire.  From  such  books,  and  from  his  own 
experience,  Lincoln  drew  his  inspiration  and  built 
up  a  style  all  his  own,  which  was  at  once  classic  and 
something  more — a  style  as  perfect  as  an  example 
of  pure  English  as  Homer  is  of  ancient  Greek.  A 
high  literary  authority  declares  that  one  of  Lin 
coln's  speeches  is  known  wherever  the  English 
language  is  known  and  spoken,  and  is  recognized  as 
a  classic  "by  virtue  of  its  unique  condensation  of 
the  sentiment  of  a  tremendous  struggle  into  a  nar 
row  compass  of  brief  paragraphs,  and  by  virtue  of 
that  instinctive,  felicitous  style,  which  gives  to  the 
largest  thought  the  beauty  of  perfect  simplicity." 


A  TEACHER  UNTAUGHT  OF  MEN  249 

The  beauties  of  Irving  and  Thoreau,  even  the 
deep  spiritual  insight  of  Emerson  and  Whittier, 
are  tame  beside  the  profound  feeling,  large  vision, 
clear  expression,  and  persuasive  eloquence  of  the 
two  inaugural  addresses.  While  the  purely  liter 
ary  authors  were  dealing  with  intellectual  and 
moral  theories,  Lincoln  was  grappling  with  actual 
conditions,  which  he  handled  as  exhaustively  and 
fearlessly  as  an  imaginative  writer  marshals  and 
commands  the  fictitious  children  of  his  brain. 
Without  gloss  or  deception,  he  laid  bare  the  vital 
issues,  and  forced  the  Nation  to  face  them  by  the 
sheer  power  of  his  presentation. 

Lincoln's  life  squared  with  his  utterances. 
How  many  there  are  who  work  themselves  into 
heroic  moods  in  the  quiet  of  the  study  and  easily 
picture  what  they  would  do  when  facing  severe 
tests;  but  who  would,  in  actual  practice,  fail  to 
meet  these  very  tests,  even  to  their  own  satisfac 
tion.  Lincoln,  when  subjected  to  such  tests  as 
few  men  ever  underwent,  was  found  equal  to  the 
emergencies.  He  met  them  in  the  spirit  of  one 
who,  knowing  his  ground  and  believing  in  the 
triumph  of  the  right,  went  steadfastly  forward  to 
the  goal  of  his  Christian  ambition. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  describing  the  Cooper 
Institute  speech  in  New  York,  says : 


250  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

He  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  When  he  spoke,  he 
was  transformed.  His  eyes  kindled;  his  voice  rang; 
his  face  shone  and  seemed  to  light  up  the  whole  as 
sembly  ;  and  for  an  hour  and  a  half  he  held  his  audience 
in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  His  style  of  speech  and 
manner  of  delivery  were  severely  simple. 

What  Lowell  has  called  the  "grand  simplicities  of 
the  Bible,"  with  which  he  was  familiar,  were  reflected 
in  his  discourse.  With  no  attempt  at  ornament  or 
rhetoric,  without  parade  or  pretence,  he  spoke  straight 
to  the  point.  If  any  came,  expecting  the  turgid 
eloquence  or  the  ribaldry  of  the  frontier,  they  must 
have  been  startled  by  the  earnest  and  sincere  purity 
of  his  utterances.  It  was  marvellous  to  see  how  this 
untutored  man,  by  mere  self -discipline  and  the 
chastening  of  his  own  spirit,  had  outgrown  all  mere 
tricious  arts  and  found  his  way  to  the  grandeur  and 
strength  of  absolute  simplicity. 

It  has  been  said  that  Lincoln  acquired  his  educa 
tion  in  such  an  unusual  way  that  he  might  be  able 
to  speak  for  his  time  and  to  his  time  with  perfect 
sincerity  and  simplicity,  to  feel  the  moral  bearings 
of  the  questions  which  were  before  the  country,  to 
discuss  the  principles  involved,  and  to  apply  them 
so  as  to  clarify  and  convince.  This  was  self- 
education.  But  how  are  we  to  account  for  the 
temperamental  and  spiritual  quality  of  soul  as 
embodied  in  his  words,  and  in  his  words  translated 
into  deeds?  When  we  attempt  to  answer  that 
question  we  shall  err  if  we  look  for  the  source  of 


A  TEACHER  UNTAUGHT  OF  MEN  251 

Mr.  Lincoln's  power  entirely  in  the  mode  of  his 
education,  hard  and  disciplinary  as  it  was.  We 
must  rather  look  for  it  in  his  spiritual  inheritance, 
for  there  was  something  more  in  him  than  the 
quality  we  call  genius.  Genius  accounts  for  much, 
but  it  does  not  always  work  out  in  the  courage, 
the  moral  elevation,  and  the  devotion  to  duty 
which  made  Lincoln  both  a  hero  and  a  martyr.  In 
Lincoln,  all  is  harmonious  and  consistent — deed 
answering  to  word.  When  he  spoke  for  the  Na 
tion  he  so  loved,  his  lips  were  as  though  touched 
with  a  live  coal  from  the  altar.  He  seemed  to  be  of 
the  same  fibre  with  the  prophets  of  Holy  Writ  and 
it  may  be  said,  without  irreverence,  that  he  was  a 
"priest  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec,  without 
beginning  or  end  of  days,"  combining  the  kingly 
and  priestly  functions  essential  to  the  service  of 
his  Nation  and  his  time. 

The  concluding  sentence  of  his  Cooper  Institute 
speech,  "Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might, 
and  in  that  faith  let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our 
duty,  as  we  understand  it,"  voiced  the  faith  in 
which  he  lived  and  in  which  he  died.  Though 
dead,  he  yet  speaketh,  even  as  never  while  he 
lived;  though  dead,  he  remains  enshrined  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people  a  living  example,  as  an  incen 
tive  to  higher  Christian  citizenship,  and  to  the 


252  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

belief  in  the  unity  and  justice  of  the  divine  pur 
pose  "toward  which  the  whole  creation  moves." 

Why  was  it  that  this  product  of  the  prairies, 
unlettered  and  unknown,  arose  to  such  heights  of 
moral  vision  and  statecraft  ?  Why  was  it  that  he 
who  knew  so  little  of  literature  could  compel  the 
eulogia  of  the  Nation's  literary  masters?  Why 
was  it  that  this  son  of  an  humble  frontier  settler 
could  rise  above  the  clouds  that  blind  the  eyes  of 
ordinary  men  and  see  the  course  a  mighty  Nation 
must  take  to  preserve  its  existence  and  keep  alive 
the  hope  of  human  freedom? 

Ask  God  Who,  in  creating  a  continent,  upraises 
a  mighty  mountain  range  above  the  plains,  and 
above  the  mountain  peaks  one  that  towers  above 
all  the  rest,  penetrates  all  clouds  and  forever  re 
flects  the  light  of  the  fleckless  skies  upon  the  crags 
and  plains  below;  and  Who,  once  in  a  century, 
raises  up  a  man  whose  towering  personality  rises 
above  the  common  multitudes  that  throng  the 
hills  and  vales,  as  the  mountain  above  its  fellows, 
and  for  all  times  sheds  the  light  of  his  achievements 
and  his  glory  upon  the  world,  to  inspire  even  those 
who  tread  the  humbler  walks  of  life  that  they,  in 
their  sphere,  may  make  their  lives  sublime. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

THE   COMPLETE   CHRISTIAN 

CLEARED  of  the  charges  made  by  Layman  and 
Herndon,  and  repeated  since  by  many  that  Lincoln 
was  at  heart  a  skeptic,  and  possibly  an  infidel, 
no  matter  what  he  may  have  seemed  to  some  in 
private  words  and  public  utterances,  there  re 
mains  a  task  which  unperformed  still  leaves  the 
subject  open  to  discussion.  It  is  not  enough  to 
remind  the  reader  that  only  those  see  who  have 
eyes  to  see,  only  those  hear  who  have  ears  to  hear. 
Even  a  casual  reader  of  Herndon 's  extraordinary 
oration  on  Lincoln  will  perceive  that  Herndon 's 
instinct  was  to  explain  all  the  phenomena  of  per 
sonality  without  resort  to  religious  faith,  and  how 
ever  intimate  Lincoln  may  have  been  with  his 
law  partner,  he  was  dealing  with  a  man  who,  like 
Darwin,  born  the  same  year  as  Lincoln,  had  de 
veloped  his  great  intellectual  gifts  at  the  expense  of 
his  spiritual  genius  and  without  Darwin's  awaken 
ing  at  last  to  his  loss  of  power  to  be  moved,  as 
when  a  young  man  he  stood  in  the  gorgeous  loneli- 

253 


254  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

ness  of  a  Brazilian  forest  and  heard  voices  whis 
pering  of  the  Creator. 

Of  one  thing  Herndon  was  certain — that  Lin 
coln  was  honest  in  all  things,  that  he  never,  even 
in  the  stress  of  politics,  sacrificed  his  love  of  think 
ing  and  speaking  what  appeared  to  him  to  be  the 
truth.  In  consequence  it  would  seem  necessary 
to  make  clear  the  Christianity  of  Mr.  Lincoln  by 
telling  out  of  his  own  mouth  the  story  of  his 
attitude  toward  Christian  fundamentals.  This, 
too,  can  be  done  without  intrusion  on  ground 
dedicated  to  those  elements  and  incidents  illustra 
tive  of  his  greatness  as  a  " human,"  who  would 
have  been  great  at  any  time,  in  any  place,  inside 
Christianity  like  Lincoln,  or  outside  like  Marcus 
Aurelius. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  brought  up  in  a  Christian 
home.  No  boy  ever  received  more  definite 
Christian  training  than  that  given  to  him  by 
Nancy  Hanks  and  Sally  Johnston.  He  knelt  at 
the  family  altar.  He  went  to  church.  He  was 
swept  by  the  emotions  kindled  at  camp-meetings. 
He  heard  great  revivalists  like  Cartwright  and 
Akers.  There  never  was  a  time  when  he  was  not 
interested  mind  and  heart  in  Christian  preaching 
and  in  Christian  experience.  His  old  friend, 
Billy  Brown,  said  in  1896: 


THE  COMPLETE  CHRISTIAN       255 

I  never  knew  anybody  who  seemed  to  me  more  in 
terested  in  God,  more  curious  about  Him,  more 
anxious  to  find  out  what  He  was  drivin'  at  in  the  world 
than  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  reckon  he  was  allus  that  way. 
The  Bible  was  the  whole  thing,  and  there  ain't  any 
doubt  he  knew  it  pretty  near  by  heart,  knew  it  well 
before  he  could  ever  read. x 


If  he  was  slow  in  committing  himself  unre 
servedly  to  the  Christian  theology  of  his  day  it 
was  partly  because  he  took  a  larger  view  of  God's 
loving  kindness  as  described  by  Jesus  than  some 
who  were  laying  more  stress  on  the  wrathful 
Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament.  In  his  early 
manhood  he  wrote  a  paper  often  cited  as  proof  he 
was  no  Christian,  which  really  was  such  a  tribute 
as  Brooks  or  Beecher  later  might  have  paid  to 
Love  Divine  expressed  in  God's  relationship  to 
man. 

Tom  Paine,  who  was  no  atheist,  may  have  held 
him  back  from  full  committal  to  the  theology  men 
commonly  associated  with  the  Bible.  To  a  mind  as 
acute  as  Lincoln's  and  accustomed  from  the  first 
to  see  all  round  a  subject,  Voltaire  came  with  a 
challenge  to  be  sure  he  was  right  before  he  went 
ahead.  Volney's  Ruins,  not  so  widely  read  as  Paine 

'Ida  M.  Tarbell:  "In  Lincoln's  Chair"— in  The  Red  Cross 
Magazine,  February,  1920,  p.  7. 


256  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

or  Voltaire,  made  peculiar  appeal  to  Lincoln's  cos 
mic  and  historic  sense,  till  then  dormant.  For  the 
first  time  he  learned  the  world  had  been  doing 
business  longer  than  6,000  years,  that  civilization 
had  developed  again  and  yet  again  only  to  pass 
away,  that  one  set  of  men  after  another  had  come 
along,  thought  out  their  religions  in  the  light  they 
had,  built  up  their  theologies  on  such  founda 
tions  as  they  found,  talked  and  acted,  lived  and 
died,  and  given  way  to  others  who  had  in  turn 
beat  against  the  bars  of  limitations  set  by 
circumstances. 

Lincoln  was  our  first  great  soul  to  reconcile  the 
quarrel  between  realist  and  idealist,  to  be  practical 
as  well  as  theoretical.  He  considered  all  the  evi 
dence.  Though  he  was  too  honest  to  plunge 
rashly  into  any  temporary  system  of  man-made 
theology,  he  was  early  won  to  the  Bible  as  the 
Book  of  God  and  tried  to  shape  his  life  by  it,  and 
gave  himself  at  last  without  reserve  to  it.  "Tell 
your  mother,"  he  wrote  Mary  Speed  as  early  as 
1841,  "that  I  have  not  got  her  'present'  (an  Ox 
ford  Bible)  with  me,  but  I  intend  to  read  it  regu 
larly  when  I  return  home."  A  little  later,  from 
the  pulpit  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  on 
invitation,  he  addressed  the  Springfield  Bible 
Society  on  the  importance  of  placing  the  Bible  in 


THE  COMPLETE  CHRISTIAN       257 

every  family  in  the  State.  Others  might  speculate 
about  the  Bible ;  Lincoln  read  it  every  day.  Even 
in  recent  years  men  who  were  with  him  in  the 
White  House  have  given  us  glimpses  of  that  man 
of  God  on  his  knees  in  some  great  crisis,  with  his 
Bible  on  the  chair  before  him,  seeking  help  from 
the  Hills. 

He  carried  the  New  Testament  ever  in  his 
pocket.  He  could  repeat  from  memory  whole 
chapters  of  it  as  well  as  other  passages.  To  a 
deputation  of  coloured  people  from  Baltimore  call 
ing  on  him  in  1864  he  described  the  Great  Book 
as  "the  best  gift  God  has  given  to  man.  All  the 
good  Saviour  gave  to  the  world  was  communicated 
through  this  book.  But  for  it  we  could  not  know 
right  from  wrong.  All  things  most  desirable  for 
man's  welfare,  here  and  hereafter,  are  to  be  found 
portrayed  in  it."  To  Chittenden,  the  keen  and 
cultivated  lawyer  from  Vermont,  he  committed 
himself  as  unreservedly  as  to  the  less  tutored 
negro  and  in  fact  closed  the  subject  for  all  time  in 
the  words:  "I  decided  a  long  time  ago  that  it  was 
less  difficult  to  believe  that  the  Bible  was  what  it 
claimed  to  be  than  to  disbelieve  it."1 

He  approached  from  so  many  points  of  view  and 
brought  to  the  consideration  of  Nature  a  mind  so 

1  Johnson,  see  Index;  also  Chittenden's  Recollections,  p.  450. 
17 


258  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

acute  and  fair,  that  in  reading  his  state  papers, 
his  speeches,  his  letters,  and  his  reported  con 
versations,  God  is  designated  in  almost  fifty  differ 
ent  ways,  all  leading  up  to  St.  John's  thought  of 
Him  as  Love,  or  as  Lincoln  said  to  Mrs.  Gurney 
on  September  4,  1864,  "Our  Father  in  Heaven." 

If  some  still  doubt  that  Lincoln  thought  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  terms  of  our  historic  Christianity,  they 
must  be  those  who  forget  that  he  lived  when 
thoughtful  men  were  in  revolt  against  the  mechani 
cal  view  of  the  Trinity,  which  came  to  its  fulness 
in  the  days  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  was  then  carried 
on  the  wave  of  the  Great  Awakening  to  the  Mid 
dle  West  and  through  the  Cumberland  Gap  to  the 
South-west,  and  served  as  framework  for  the  evan 
gelism  brought  to  young  Lincoln's  very  door. 

If  Lincoln's  contemporaries,  like  Channing  and 
Bushnell  in  New  England,  were  at  that  very  time 
breaking  with  the  intellectual  formalism  of  the 
religion  of  their  day,  they  were  still  holding  to  its 
spiritual  reality.  Channing  would  not  use  the 
language  of  the  formalists  but  he  did  assert  that 
"Jesus  was  what  He  claimed  to  be,  and  what  His 
followers  attested.  Nor  is  this  all.  Jesus  not 
only  was,  He  is  still  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour 
of  the  world." 

BushnelTs  logic  seemed  to  shatter  the  cold  meta- 


THE  COMPLETE  CHRISTIAN        259 

physics  of  the  Trinity  as  it  had  been  stereotyped 
by  the  merely  intellectual,  but  at  the  very  time 
Lincoln  was  working  his  way  through  to  a  belief 
in  all  the  spiritual  realities  the  Bible  teaches, 
Bushnell  was  saying,  "My  heart  wants  the  Father; 
my  heart  wants  the  Son ;  my  heart  wants  the  Holy 
Ghost — and  one  just  as  much  as  the  other.  My 
heart  says  the  Bible  has  a  Trinity  for  me,  and  I 
mean  to  hold  by  my  heart." 

Then  came  Phillips  Brooks,  entering  on  his 
ministry  as  Lincoln's  work  was  near  its  end,  and 
making  it  indubitably  clear  that  heart  as  well  as 
head  is  necessary  to  the  understanding  of  the 
Bible,  saying  in  his  every  sermon :  * '  This  old  faith 
of  ours  after  all  is  true,  more  deeply  and  more 
largely  true  than  we  have  lately  thought  it.  Doc 
trines  are  to  be  studied  with  the  heart  as  well  as 
mind.  Even  doubts  may  have  their  place  in 
swinging  great  truths  out  into  the  brightest  light." 
It  is  strange,  perhaps  providential,  that  it  was 
in  the  sermon  on  the  death  of  Lincoln,  which  won 
for  Phillips  Brooks  his  widest  reputation,  that 
unwittingly  he  said  the  final  word  in  explanation 
of  the  complete  Christianity  of  Lincoln : 

In  him  goodness  and  intelligence  combined  and 
made  their  best  result  of  wisdom.  For  perfect  truth 
consists  not  merely  in  the  right  constituents  of  char- 


26o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

acter,  but  in  their  right  and  intimate  conjunction. 
You  are  unable  to  tell  whether  in  the  wise  acts  and 
words  which  issue  from  such  a  life  there  is  more  of  the 
righteousness  that  comes  of  a  clear  conscience,  or  of 
the  sagacity  that  comes  of  a  clear  brain. 

If  more  than  once  Lincoln  hesitated  to  proclaim 
himself  a  Christian  as  in  a  conversation  with 
Josiah  Grady  in  1847  or  1848  and  when  he  was 
leaving  Springfield,  he  took  pains  in  one  case  to 
deny  he  was  an  infidel,  and  in  the  other  to  indicate 
by  implication  that  his  ideal  of  a  Christian  was  so 
lofty  that  he  hesitated  in  sheer  modesty  to  pro 
claim  himself  to  be  what  he  thought  only  better 
men  could  hope  to  be.  "God,  be  merciful  to  me, 
a  sinner ' '  was  more  his  state  of  mind  than  ' '  Lord, 
I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men."1 

All  the  while  he  was  trying  to  be  like  Jesus.  He 
once  said  to  a  friend :  * '  I  have  read  the  beatitudes 
of  Jesus.  I  have  sometimes  thought  I  might 
claim  the  benefit  of  the  one  that  pronounces  a 
blessing  upon  those  who  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness."2  He  habitually  referred  to  Jesus 
as  "our  Lord."  He  accepted  literally  both  the 

rln  a  letter  to  Reverdy  Johnson,  dated  July  26,  1862,  and 
published  by  Nicolay  &  Hay,  he  says,  "I  am  a  patient  man, 
always  willing  to  forgive  on  the  Christian  terms  of  repentance 
and  also  to  give  ample  time  for  repentance." 

3  Johnson's  Lincoln,  p.  172. 


THE  COMPLETE  CHRISTIAN        261 

Temptation  in  the  Wilderness  and  the  Miracles. 
He  never  faltered  in  adherence  to  the  orthodox 
explanation  of  the  Atonement.1  Some  of  his 
speeches  and  even  proclamations  are  scarcely 
more  than  elaborations  of  the  words  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  keynote  of  his  more  than  famous 
victory  over  Douglas  in  debate  was  simply  the 
quotation  from  Jesus:  "A  house  divided  against 
itself  cannot  stand." 

The  time  came,  however,  when  he  wanted  men 
to  know  without  further  question  that  like  St. 
Paul, "For  him  to  live  was  Christ" :  for  just  before 
his  death  Mr.  Lincoln  solemnly  remarked  to  a 
good  friend:  "When  I  left  Springfield  I  asked  the 
people  to  pray  for  me.  I  was  not  a  Christian. 
When  I  buried  my  son,  the  severest  trial  of  my 
life,  I  was  not  a  Christian.  But  when  I  went  to 
Gettysburg  and  saw  the  graves  of  thousands  of 
our  soldiers,  I  then  and  there  consecrated  myself 
to  Christ."2 

Not  often  did  he  speak  about  the  Holy  Spirit, 
but  when  he  spoke  he  left  no  room  to  doubt  that 
when  men  grow  in  goodness  they  do  not  grow  by 
chance;  they  grow  under  the  fostering  care  of 

1  Even  in  referring  to  the  wounded  on  the  battlefield,  Lincoln 
once  inquired  if  there  "isn't  something  in  Scripture  about  the 
'  shedding  of  blood '  for  the  remission  of  sins." — Carpenter,  p.  319. 

'Lincoln's  Memorial  Album,  O.  H.  Oldroyd,  p.  366. 


262  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

God's  Holy  Spirit.  In  references  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  his  writings  abound.  No  theologian  has 
ever  more  confidently  explained  the  Holy  Spirit's 
place  in  human  life  than  when  Mr.  Lincoln,  after 
the  victories  at  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg,  called 
his  people  to  invoke  the  influence  of  the 

Holy  Spirit  to  subdue  the  anger  which  has  produced 
and  so  long  sustained  a  needless  and  cruel  rebellion,  to 
change  the  hearts  of  the  insurgents,  to  guide  the  coun 
sels  of  the  government  with  wisdom  adequate  to  so 
great  a  national  emergency,  and  to  visit  with  tender 
care  and  consolation  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  our  land  all  those  who,  through  the  vicissi 
tudes  of  marches,  voyages,  battles,  and  sieges,  have 
been  brought  to  suffer  in  mind,  body,  or  estate,  and 
finally  to  lead  the  whole  nation  through  the  paths  of 
repentance  and  submission  to  the  Divine  Will  back  to 
the  perfect  enjoyment  of  union  and  fraternal  peace. 

Some  still  wonder  why  he  never  joined  a  church. 
Is  the  day  never  to  dawn  when  all  will  understand 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  absolutely  honest  with 
himself  and  with  the  church?  He  had  spent  his 
life  among  people  who  believed  church  member 
ship  signified  a  certain  grade  of  other- worldliness 
which  he  never  thought  he  had  quite  reached,  when 
certainly  the  vast  majority  of  church  members 
were  supposed  to  understand  as  well  as  to  believe 
all  the  details  of  evangelical  theology.  Lincoln's 


THE  COMPLETE  CHRISTIAN       263 

mind  worked  slowly.  He  would  never  urge  it  on. 
He  wanted  time  to  think,  to  read,  to  pray,  before 
he  took  a  step  which  seemed  to  him  a  virtual  as 
sertion  that  he  held  the  full-orbed  faith.  He  was 
troubled  that  the  various  denominations  differed 
radically  as  to  what  they  held  to  be  essentials.  He 
had  heard  some  sermons  which  caused  him  to  de 
clare  it  blasphemy  for  a  preacher  to  "twist  the 
words  of  Christ  around  so  as  to  sustain  his  own 
doctrine."  He  was  afraid  that  some  of  the  theo 
logy  of  the  day  conflicted  with  "the  true  spirit  of 
Christ."  Yet  all  the  time  he  regularly  attended 
church,  first  in  Springfield  and  then  in  Washing 
ton,  and  in  1864  wrote  his  old  friend,  Joshua 
Speed, ' '  I  am  profitably  engaged  reading  the  Bible. 
Take  all  of  this  Book  upon  reason  that  you  can 
and  the  balance  upon  faith  and  you  will  live  and 
die  a  better  man." 

The  death  of  Willie  and  the  countless  graves  he 
found  at  Gettysburg  in  1863  seemed  to  sweep  his 
heart  along  toward  church  membership  in  spite 
of  any  hesitations  the  head  still  entertained.  He 
developed  the  habit  of  talking  out  his  inmost  feel 
ings  to  the  spiritually-minded  whom  he  met. 
Carpenter1  reports  his  statement  to  a  woman 
representing  the  Christian  Commission,  "that  it 

1  Page  1 87. 


264  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

has  been  my  intention  for  some  time  at  a  suitable 
opportunity  to  make  a  public  religious  profession." 
To  Noah  Brooks  and  his  beloved  Pastor,  Dr. 
Gurley,  he  spoke  to  the  same  purpose.  Then  when 
he  was  setting  his  house  in  order  for  the  peace 
that  followed  war,  death  interrupted  all  his  plans. 
Though  he  had  not  after  all  joined  church, 

Never  to  the  mansions  where  the  mighty  rest, 
Since  their  foundations,  came  a  nobler  guest. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

THE   CHRIST-LIKE  STORY-TELLER 

IDIOMS,  maxims,  argument,  even  illustrations 
are  not  always  adequate  to  sink  truth  deep  into 
all  types  of  mind.  Some  minds  are  too  clever, 
some  too  dull,  some  too  introspective  and  some  too 
detached  to  apprehend  truth  presented  in  conven 
tional  form.  But  everybody  understands  a  story. 
Everybody  likes  a  well-told  story  with  a  moral 
which  requires  no  afterword.  The  Fables  of 
sEsop,  the  Arabian  Nights,  the  Canterbury  Tales  of 
Chaucer  are  as  acceptable  today  as  when  they 
were  first  told. 

He  who  spake  as  never  man  spake  was  habitu 
ally  a  story-teller.  He  couched  much  of  his  teach 
ing  in  story  form  most  easy  to  the  understanding 
of  plain  people,  most  stimulating  to  the  thought 
ful,  most  arresting  to  those  engrossed  in  "the  cares 
of  this  world,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  and 
the  lusts  of  other  things."  He  called  his  stories 
parables,  and  many  scholars  have  gone  far  afield 
in  giving  them  an  esoteric  meaning  or  in  making 

265 


266  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

them  a  stalking  horse  for  strange  or  foolish  doc 
trine.  But  his  parables  are  nothing  more  than 
word  pictures  of  a  real  or  an  imaginary  scene,  a 
probable  or  improbable  occurrence.  They  are — 
as  in  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  or  the  Ten 
Virgins — artistic  presentation  of  a  central  thought 
with  the  details  so  skilfully  grouped  around  it  as 
to  float  the  truth  itself  into  the  mind  by  way  of  the 
imagination  as  well  as  of  the  understanding. 

It  was  largely  by  this  use  of  the  story,  that  Jesus 
could  give  free  play  without  loss  of  dignity  to  His 
sense  of  mirth  and  wit,  that  He  could  make  use  at 
times  of  irony  and  sarcasm,  and  scintillate  with 
raillery  and  repartee.  When  He  wanted  to  de 
scribe  the  Father's  joy  at  the  return  of  the  prodigal 
he  made  to  ring  out  from  the  parable  the  sound 
of  music  and  dancing.  When  He  exhorted  His 
disciples  to  be  happy  in  the  midst  of  all  their 
tribulations,  He  bade  them  leap  with  joy.  In  the 
simile  of  the  camel  and  the  needle's  eye  there  is 
biting  irony. 

Was  there  ever  sarcasm  more  cutting  than  when 
he  told  His 'hearers  who  were  Jews  to  take  no 
thought  for  the  morrow,  which  was  the  habit  of 
the  Gentiles?  Did  ever  raillery  go  home  more 
quickly  than  in  His  pertinent  remark  about  pluck 
ing  out  the  beam  from  your  own  eye  before  you 


THE  CHRIST-LIKE  STORY-TELLER  267 

try  to  find  the  tiny  mote  in  some  other's  eye?  But 
it  was  Herodian  and  Scribe  and  Pharisee  who 
learned  at  last  that  they  had  no  mind,  however 
highly  trained  and  polished,  to  match  the  mind 
which  taking  all  of  them  in  turn  smashed  their 
plans  and  put  their  intellects  to  rout  in  that  re 
sistless  thrust  of  repartee :  ' '  Render  therefore  un 
to  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's:  and  unto 
God  the  things  that  are  God's." 

There  have  been  since  Jesus'  day  men  who  have 
made  successful  use  of  story-telling  to  re- enforce 
their  arguments.  There  has  been  none  in  the 
same  class  as  Lincoln.  Like  St.  Paul  he  was  him 
self  in  the  best  sense  all  things  to  all  men  that  he 
might  save  some;  nay  more,  that  he  might  save  the 
Union.  He  had  so  meditated  on  the  words  of 
Jesus  Christ  that  he  had  caught  His  secret  of 
tempering  justice  with  mercy,  of  loving  all  though 
some  he  did  not  like,  of  ministering  to  the  needs  of 
suffering  ones  as  well  as  binding  up  the  wounds 
of  every  battlefield. 

In  all  his  story-telling  he  was  quaintly  self- 
unconscious.  He  was  merely  feathering  the  ar 
row  of  the  truth  he  had  thought  out  that  he  might 
lodge  it  without  failure  in  the  most  elusive  mind 
or  hardest  heart.  As  for  the  report  too  long 
circulated  that  Lincoln  had  a  penchant  for  the 


268  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

disbursement  of  the  questionable  story,  that  hoary 
lie  is  at  last  laid  low.  Brought  up  amid  frontier 
conditions,  accustomed  to  the  sights  and  sounds 
of  the  comparatively  primitive,  his  stories  or 
dinarily  reflected  the  environment  of  the  days 
before  he  went  to  Washington  as  the  parables  of 
Jesus  have  for  their  setting  the  hills  and  dales, 
the  villages  and  plains  of  Palestine. 

Fortunately  we  have  Lincoln's  own  veracious 
explanation  made  to  Colonel  Silas  W.  Burt  of  the 
place  of  story-telling  in  his  scheme  of  things. 

I  believe  [he  said]  that  I  have  the  popular  reputa 
tion  of  being  a  story-teller,  but  I  do  not  deserve  the 
name  in  its  general  sense,  for  it  is  not  the  story  itself, 
but  its  purpose  or  effect  that  interests  me.  I  often 
avoid  a  long  and  useless  discussion  by  others,  or  a 
laborious  explanation  on  my  own  part,  by  a  short 
story  that  illustrates  my  point  of  view.  So  too,  the 
sharpness  of  a  refusal  or  the  edge  of  a  rebuke  may  be 
blunted  by  an  appropriate  story  so  as  to  save  wound 
ing  feelings  and  yet  serve  the  purpose.  No,  I  am  not 
simply  a  story-teller,  but  story-telling  as  an  emollient 
saves  me  much  friction  and  distress. 

Lincoln  never  went  to  college.  He  never  ran 
the  risk  of  growing  merely  learned.  He  sharpened 
at  home  his  wits  till  none  could  outmatch  them. 
He  developed  a  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things  the 
merely  academic  could  not  dull  or  stultify.  But 


THE  CHRIST-LIKE  STORY-TELLER  269 

he  always  kept  close  to  the  commonplace.  He 
always  understood  plain  people  and  believed  that 
they  come  first  in  any  democratic  country. 

The  colour  of  the  ground  was  in  him,  the  red  earth ; 

The  tang  and  colour  of  the  primal  things — 

The  rectitude  and  patience  of  the  rocks; 

The  gladness  of  the  wind  that  shakes  the  corn; 

The  courage  of  the  bird  that  dares  the  sea ; 

The  justice  of  the  rain  that  loves  all  leaves; 

The  pity  of  the  snow  that  hides  all  scars ; 

The  loving  kindness  of  the  wayside  well ; 

The  tolerance  and  equity  of  light 

That  gives  as  freely  to  the  shrinking  weed 

As  to  the  great  oak  flaring  to  the  wind — 

To  the  grave's  low  hill  as  to  the  Matterhorn 

That  shoulders  out  the  sky. 

"He  once  condemned  for  its  tediousness,"  said 
a  noted  literary  man  at  a  dinner  in  New  York,  "a 
Greek  history;  whereupon  a  diplomat  took  the 
President  to  task.  'The  author  of  that  history, 
Mr.  President,'  he  said,  'is  one  of  the  profoundest 
scholars  of  the  age.  Indeed  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  man  of  our  generation  has  plunged 
more  deeply  into  the  sacred  fount  of  learning.' 
'Yes,  or  come  up  drier,'  answered  Lincoln." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  as  fond  of  framing  his  re 
tort  in  language  of  the  Scriptures  as  Jesus  was 
in  quoting  the  Old  Testament.  The  Secretary  of 


270  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

the  Treasury  in  Lincoln's  second  term,  Hugh 
McCulloch,  once  with  some  awe  presented  to  the 
President  a  delegation  of  New  York  bankers  with 
the  preliminary  undertone:  "These  gentlemen 
have  come  on  to  see  about  our  new  loan.  As 
bankers  they  are  obliged  to  hold  our  national 
securities.  I  can  vouch  for  their  patriotism  and 
loyalty;  for,  as  the  good  Book  says,  'Where  the 
treasure  is  there  will  the  heart  be  also. ' '  To  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  quickly  answered:  "There  is  another 
text,  Mr.  McCulloch,  I  remember  that  might 
equally  apply — 'Where  the  carcass  is,  there  will 
the  eagles  be  gathered  together.' ' 

Lincoln  believed  no  duty  was  more  constant 
than  to  keep  accessible  to  the  people.  No  matter 
how  busy  he  might  be,  he  was  always  seeing  callers. 
They  came  to  his  receptions  in  such  numbers  and 
shook  his  hand  so  vigorously  that  he  was  often 
almost  lame  and  came  to  ths  signing  of  the  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation  with  a  hand  so  tremulous 
that  at  first  he  was  not  sure  he  could  affix  a  signa 
ture  that  would  be  legible.  People  came  at  all 
hours.  Sometimes  they  roamed  at  will  over  the 
whole  house.  One  man  with  a  Sunday  morning 
engagement  on  getting  no  response  to  the  ringing 
of  the  doorbell,  walked  in  unannounced,  even 
went  upstairs,  knocked  at  the  President's  private 


THE  CHRIST-LIKE  STORY-TELLER  271 

room,  and  when  admitted  was  informed  by  Mr. 
Lincoln:  "The  boys  are  all  out  this  morning." 
The  aristocratic  Charles  Sumner  had  to  seek  the 
President  downstairs  and  when  he  found  him 
polishing  his  boots,  in  astonishment  protested: 
"Why,  Mr.  President,  do  you  black  your  own 
boots?"  Looking  up  for  but  a  moment  Mr.  Lin 
coln  returned  more  vigorously  to  his  task  with  the 
apt  reply:  "Whose  boots  did  you  think  I  was 
blacking?"  Far  more  than  St.  Paul  he  had  to 
suffer  fools  gladly,  and  in  many  a  stated  conference 
it  was  his  appropriate  story  that  enabled  him  to 
refuse  requests  without  offence  at  a  time  when  for 
the  Nation's  good  no  more  enemies  must  be  made 
by  the  executive  than  was  absolutely  necessary. 

In  the  Odyssey  we  are  told  that  Ulysses,  in  bring 
ing  together  the  materials  for  the  building  of  his 
bed  around  the  olive  tree,  "bored  them  all."  No 
President  perhaps  was  ever  more  beset  by  men 
who  "bored  them  all"  than  Mr.  Lincoln.  Yet  he 
had  to  listen  patiently  even  to  Robert  Dale  Owen's 
long  and  tiresome  manuscript  on  an  abstruse  sub 
ject  and  to  avoid  committal  of  himself  when 
pressed  for  an  opinion,  sought  refuge  in  the  safe 
and  solemn  generalization:  "For  those  who  like 
that  sort  of  thing  that  is  the  sort  of  thing  they 
like." 


272  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Once  when  the  Cabinet  seemed  broken  into 
halves  and  Lincoln  could  not  train  with  either 
without  danger  of  disruption  of  the  government, 
he  waited  till  he  had  in  his  pocket  the  resignation 
of  a  representative  of  each  group  and  then  jocosely 
said:  "Now,  I  can  ride  easily;  I  have  a  pumpkin 
on  either  side  my  saddle." 

He  took  no  special  credit  to  himself  for  his  re- 
nomination  for  the  Presidency  in  1864,  but  assumed 
that  the  party  leaders  had  concluded  ' '  that  it  was 
not  best  to  swap  horses  while  crossing  the  river, 
and  have  further  concluded  that  I  am  not  so  poor 
a  horse  that  they  might  not  make  a  botch  of  it  in 
trying  to  swap." 

Before  he  had  thought  through  all  the  incidental 
issues  of  the  time,  in  fact  before  he  went  to  the 
White  House,  he  was  once  asked  for  an  opinion  on 
the  tariff  and  replied  with  a  story  passed  on  in  the 
nineties  by  an  aged  man  who  heard  him  tell  it : 

When  I  was  a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store  in  New  Salem, 
down  in  Menard  County,  a  man  came  in  and  said  to 
the  storekeeper:  "I  want  a  nickle's  worth  of  ginger 
snaps."  When  they  were  laid  out  on  the  counter,  the 
customer  changed  his  mind  and  said,  "I'll  have  a 
glass  of  cider  instead. ' '  He  drank  the  cider  and  turned 
toward  the  door,  his  bill  unpaid.  "Here,  Bill,"  said 
the  storekeeper,  "ain't  you  goin'  to  pay  me  for  that 
cider?"  The  reply  came  back,  "Didn't  I  give  you 


THE  CHRIST-LIKE  STORY-TELLER  273 

the  ginger  snaps  for  it? "  "Well  then  pay  me  for  the 
ginger  snaps."  "But  I  never  ate  your  ginger  snaps," 
was  the  quick  answer.  The  storekeeper  grudgingly 
admitted  that  Bill  had  told  the  truth,  but  added  he 
had  lost  something,  somehow,  in  the  deal.  So  it  is 
[said  Mr.  Lincoln]  with  the  tariff.  Somebody  loses; 
but  I  do  not  know  as  yet  just  who  it  is. 


To  a  man  in  public  office  a  certain  type  of 
woman  is  perhaps  most  difficult  to  deal  with.  She 
is  "more  dangerous  than  the  male."  She  has 
been  the  undoing  of  more  than  one  man  able  to 
get  on  with  men.  Lincoln's  lambent  wit  was  his 
safeguard,  as  when  the  haughty  woman  came  with 
challenge  in  her  eye  and  theatrically  exclaimed: 
"Mr.  President,  you  must  give  me  a  colonel's  com 
mission  for  my  son.  Sir,  I  demand  it  not  as  a 
favour,  but  as  a  right.  Sir,  my  grandfather  fought 
at  Lexington.  Sir,  my  uncle  was  the  only  man 
who  did  not  run  away  at  Bladensburg.  Sir,  my 
father  fought  at  New  Orleans;  and,  sir,  my  hus 
band  was  killed  at  Monterey."  Mr.  Lincoln 
never  blinked  an  eye  but  drily  and  yet  courteously 
answered:  "I  guess,  madam,  your  family  has  done 
enough  for  the  country.  It  is  time  to  give  some 
one  else  a  chance."  The  interview  was  at  an  end. 

Friends  unwittingly  and  enemies  with  malice 
prepense  and  deliberation  meticulous  were  ever 


18 


274  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

trying  to  take  Jesus  unawares  or  "entangle  Him 
in  His  talk"  or  commit  Him  to  a  course  which 
would  perhaps  have  saved  His  life  but  would  have 
led  His  mission  into  a  cul  de  sac.  His  usual  es 
cape  was  through  a  flashing  or  bewildering  reply 
or  an  apt  and  blistering  story  that  brought 
immediate  silence  and  finality. 

Lincoln's  method  was  precisely  similar  and  out 
of  the  multitude  of  stories  that  come  floating  into 
memory  these  two  seem  adequate:  When  Mr. 
Gilmore  was  having  his  last  interview  with  the 
President  before  starting  with  Jacquess  in  1864  on 
that  trip  to  Richmond  which  killed  the  Peace  Party 
and  ensured  Lincoln's  re-election,  he  hesitated 
with  his  hand  upon  the  door  knob  hoping  that  the 
President  would  have  some  word  to  say  that  would 
ensure  his  personal  success  as  well  as  his  official 
safety.  Mr.  Lincoln  read  his  mind  and  sent  him 
off  with  these  words  ringing  in  his  ears:  "All  I  can 
do  for  you  is  to  give  you  a  pass  through  the  lines 
and  pray  for  you." 

As  the  famous  "peace"  conference  held  Febru 
ary  3,  1865,  on  board  the  River  Queen  in  Hampton 
Roads,  between  the  President  and  Secretary 
Seward  representing  the  Union  and  the  Con 
federate  Commissioners,  Stephen  Campbell,  and 
Hunter,  drew  to  its  close,  Mr.  Hunter  urged  in 


THE  CHRIST-LIKE  STORY-TELLER  275 

historical  justification  of  the  recognition  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis 's  power  to  make  a  treaty  the  correspond 
ence  which  took  place  between  King  Charles  I  and 
his  Parliament.  Mr.  Lincoln's  face  took  on  that 
indescribable  expression  which  those  who  knew 
him  best  associated  with  his  hardest  hits  as  he 
replied:  "Upon  questions  of  history  I  must  refer 
you  to  Mr.  Seward,  for  he  is  posted  in  such  things; 
and  I  don't  pretend  to  be  bright.  My  only  dis 
tinct  recollection  of  the  matter  is,  that  Charles 
lost  his  head."1 

Carpenter,  213. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

LINCOLN   ON   HIS   KNEES 

As  Paul  established  an  analogy  between  Chris 
tianity  and  nature,  so  Abraham  Lincoln  illustrated 
in  his  life  the  possibility  of  divine  companionship 
along  with  the  essential  religiousness  of  what  men 
call  the  ordinary  affairs  of  men  and  nations.  By 
living  Christianity,  he  made  it  more  than  a  doc 
trine.  It  became  a  vital  force  in  every  day  affairs. 
This  is  why  much  of  the  speculation  and  even 
academic  discussions  as  to  how  far  Lincoln  was  a 
Christian  is  beside  the  mark.  He  lived  increas 
ingly  the  life  of  faith  and  hope,  and  translated  fate 
into  purpose,  benevolence  into  the  Fatherhood  of 
God,  relationship  with  others  into  brotherhood  of 
man.  He  harmonized  the  ideals  of  morals  and 
the  essentials  of  Christianity.  He  accepted  Jesus' 
estimate  of  prayer  as  spiritual  communion,  as  filial 
trust  always  necessary  to  the  higher  life.  He 
spoke  of  prayer  as  * '  talking  with  God  "  and  counted 
it  so  necessary  that  once  he  declared :  ' '  I  have  been 
driven  to  my  knees  over  and  over  again  because  I 

276 


LINCOLN  ON  HIS  KNEES  277 

have  nowhere  else  to  go."  He  would  have  every 
body  pray  that  his  own  faith  might  not  fail  him  in 
the  hour  of  trial  and  that  the  Union  might  be  saved. 

To  L.  E.  Chittenden,  one  of  his  closest  friends, 
he  said :  "  It  makes  me  stronger  and  more  confident 
to  know  that  all  Christians  in  the  loyal  States  are 
working  to  the  same  end;  thousands  of  them  are 
fighting  for  us,  and  no  one  will  say  that  an  officer 
or  a  private  is  less  brave  because  he  is  a  praying 
soldier." 

A  clergyman  from  New  York,  during  a  call  at 
the  White  House,  said:  "I  have  not  come  to  ask 
any  favours  of  you,  Mr.  President;  I  have  only 
come  to  say  that  the  loyal  people  of  the  North  are 
sustaining  you  and  will  continue  to  do  so.  We 
are  giving  you  all  that  we  have,  the  lives  of  our 
sons  as  well  as  our  confidence  and  our  prayers. 
You  must  know  that  no  boy's  father  or  mother 
ever  kneels  in  prayer  these  days  without  asking 
God  to  give  you  strength  and  wisdom."  His 
eyes  brimming  with  tears,  Mr.  Lincoln  replied: 
"But  for  those  prayers,  I  should  have  faltered  and 
perhaps  failed  long  ago.  Tell  every  father  and 
mother  you  know  to  keep  on  praying,  and  I  will 
keep  on  fighting,  for  I  know  God  is  on  our  side." 
As  the  clergyman  started  to  leave  the  room,  Mr. 
Lincoln  held  him  by  the  hands  and  said:  "I  sup- 


278  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

pose  I  may  consider  this  as  a  sort  of  pastoral  call? " 
1 '  Yes, ' '  replied  the  clergyman.  ' '  Out  in  our  coun 
try,"  continued  Lincoln,  "when  a  parson  makes  a 
pastoral  call,  it  was  always  the  custom  for  the 
folks  to  ask  him  to  lead  in  prayer,  and  I  should 
like  to  ask  you  to  pray  with  me  today.  Pray  that 
I  may  have  strength  and  wisdom."  The  two  men 
knelt  side  by  side,  and  the  clergyman  offered  the 
most  fervent  plea  to  Almighty  God  that  ever  fell 
from  his  lips.  As  they  arose,  the  President 
clasped  his  visitor's  hand  and  remarked  in  a  satis 
fied  sort  of  way:  "I  feel  better."1 

At  another  time,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  re 
minded  that  he  was  daily  remembered  by  those 
who  prayed  "not  to  be  heard  of  men"  as  no  man 
ever  had  before  been  remembered,  he  caught  at 
the  homely  phrase  and  said:  "Yes,  I  like  that 
phrase  'not  to  be  heard  of  men,'  and  I  guess  it  is 
generally  true  as  you  say;  at  least  I  have  been 
told  so,  and  I  have  been  a  great  deal  helped  by 
just  that  thought."2 

As  early  as  1851  when  Mr.  Lincoln's  father  was 
in  his  last  illness,  Lincoln,  who  could  not  go  to  the 
bedside  because  of  sickness  in  his  own  family, 
wrote  to  his  step-brother,  John  Johnston: 

1  The  True  Abraham  Lincoln,  pp.  383-4. 

2  Noah  Brooks,  Harper's  Magazine,  July,  1865,  p.  226. 


LINCOLN  ON  HIS  KNEES  279 

Tell  father  to  remember  to  call  upon  and  confide  in 
our  great  and  good  and  merciful  Maker,  Who  will 
not  turn  away  from  him  in  any  extremity.  He  notes 
the  fall  of  the  sparrow,  and  numbers  the  hairs  of  our 
heads.  He  will  not  forget  the  dying  man  who  puts 
his  trust  in  Him.  Say  to  him,  if  it  be  his  lot  to  go  now, 
he  will  soon  have  a  joyous  meeting  with  loved  ones 
gone  before,  and  where  the  rest  of  us,  through  the  help 
of  God,  hope  ere  long  to  join  him. 

Brigadier-General  James  F.  Rusling  in  his 
work:  Men  and  Things  I  Saw  in  Civil  War  Days, 
throws  the  following  light  on  Lincoln  as  a  man  of 
prayer  in  the  White  House : 

Bishop  Edmund  Janes  testified  that  "many  times 
during  the  war  when  I  visited  Lincoln  in  his  private 
office  in  Washington,  he  said,  'Don't  go,  Bishop,  until 
you  have  prayed  with  me.  We  need  your  prayers  and 
the  divine  direction  in  these  critical  hours,'  and  so, 
time  after  time,  I  knelt  with  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  White 
House  when  we  two  were  alone,  and  carried  the  cause 
of  the  Union  and  the  needs  of  the  President's  anxious 
heart  and  our  distracted  country,  to  the  Lord  in 
prayer." 

Akin  to  this  testimony  is  that  of  the  Rev. 
Edgar  DeWitt  Jones  in  the  Homeletic  Review  for 
1909  (P-  156): 

To  Bishop  Simpson  who  called  once  when  the  clouds 
were  thickest,  Lincoln  said :  "Bishop,  I  feel  the  need  of 


280  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

prayer  as  never  before;  please  pray  for  me."  And  the 
two  men  then  fell  on  their  knees  in  prayer  to  God  for 
strength  and  guidance. 

Noah  Brooks,  one  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  most  trusted 
friends,  who  but  for  the  assassination,  would  have 
become  one  of  his  confidential  secretaries,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Reed,  states  that  Mr.  Lin 
coln  informed  him  "that  after  he  went  to  the 
White  House  he  kept  up  the  habit  of  daily  prayer. 
Sometimes,"  he  said,  "it  was  only  ten  words,  but 
those  ten  words  he  had."1 

Among  the  men  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  in 
timately,  was  John  Nicolay,  one  of  his  private 
secretaries.  Speaking  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  man 
of  prayer,  Mr.  Nicolay  said  • 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  praying  man.  I  know  that  to  be 
a  fact  and  I  have  heard  him  request  people  to  pray  for 
him,  which  he  would  never  have  done  had  he  not  be 
lieved  that  prayer  is  answered.  Many  a  time  have  I 
heard  Mr.  Lincoln  ask  ministers  and  Christian  women 
to  pray  for  him,  and  he  did  not  do  this  for  effect.  He 
was  no  hypocrite;  he  had  such  reverence  for  sacred 
things  that  he  would  not  trifle  with  them.  I  have 
heard  him  say  that  he  prayed.2 

Nicolay  thus  dispels  the  injustice  of  Herndon's 
testimony  that  as  he  knew  Lincoln  in  his  Spring- 

1  Scribner's,  May,  1873,  p.  333. 
3  Curtis,  pp.  385-6. 


LINCOLN  ON  HIS  KNEES  281 

field  days,  Lincoln's  attitude  toward  prayer  was 
"merely  conventional."  He  could  not  pretend. 
Posturing  was  foreign  to  his  self-respect.  Decep 
tion  was  incongruous  with  his  sincerity. 

Much  ink  has  been  spilled,  more  may  yet  be 
spilled,  in  controversy  about  purely  technical 
questions  as  to  Lincoln's  Christianity.  It  will 
always  be  enough  for  plain  people  that  Lincoln 
lived  the  Christian  life  of  prayer  which  Jesus  lived, 
and  made  it  the  test  of  Christian  theory  and  prac 
tice.  If  a  man  who  prayed  as  much  as  Lincoln 
prayed  was  not  a  Christian,  all  churches  might 
well  question  their  potential  usefulness  to  man. 
Lincoln  in  fact  makes  all  controversy  foolish  by 
such  words  as  he  spoke  to  a  friend  after  the  second 
fatal  battle  of  Bull  Run :  ' '  I  have  talked  with  God. 
It  is  His  cause,  and  the  Union  is  His.  As  He 
willeth,  so  it  will  be.  We  can  but  follow  and  pray 
for  its  integrity  and  for  mercy  on  the  fallen."1 

Upon  one  occasion,  he  was  so  absorbed  in  the 
issues  of  the  battle  which  was  being  fought  at  Port 
Hudson  that  his  soul,  like  the  Psalmist,  was  cast 
down.  Finally  arousing  himself  from  his  depres 
sion,  he  exclaimed:  "The  Battle  of  Port  Hudson 
is  now  going  on  and  many  lives  will  be  sacrificed 
on  both  sides,  but  I  have  done  the  best  I  could, 

1  Chapman,  p.  380. 


282  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

trusting  in  God;  for  it  will  be  unfortunate  if  they 
gain  this  important  point,  and  on  the  other  hand  if 
we  can  only  gain  it,  we  shall  gain  much,  and  I 
think  we  shall  as  we  have  a  great  deal  to  thank 
God  for;  we  have  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg 
already." 

Mrs.  Rebecca  Pomeroy,  who  was  present  upon 
that  occasion  said:  "Mr.  Lincoln,  prayer  will  do 
what  nothing  else  will.  Can  you  not  pray  ? "  "  Yes, 
I  will,"  he  said,  and  while  the  tears  were  cours 
ing  down  his  haggard  face,  he  said:  "Pray  for 
me,"  and  he  went  to  his  room.  At  12  o'clock 
at  night,  while  the  soldiers  were  guarding  the 
house,  a  sentinel  riding  by  halted  with  a  telegram 
that  was  carried  to  the  President.  A  few  minutes 
later,  the  door  opened,  and  the  President  standing 
under  the  chandelier  holding  the  telegram  in  his 
hand,  exclaimed:  "Good  news!  Good  news! 
Port  Hudson  is  ours!  The  victory  is  ours  and 
God  is  good."  Mrs.  Pomeroy  said:  "Nothing 
like  prayer  in  time  of  trouble."  "Oh,  yes,  yes, 
there  is,"  responded  Mr.  Lincoln,  "Praise;  for 
prayer  and  praise  go  together."1 

The  editor  of  the  Advance  tells  this  memorable 
story  which  he  had  from  the  lips  of  James  F. 
Murdock,  elocutionist,  lecturer,  and  actor. 

1  Lincoln  Scrapbook,  p.  54. 


LINCOLN  ON  HIS  KNEES  283 

I  spent  three  weeks  in  the  White  House  with  Mr. 
Lincoln  as  his  guest.  One  night,  it  was  just  after  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  I  was  restless  and  could  not  sleep. 
I  was  repeating  the  part  which  I  was  to  take  in  a  public 
performance.  The  hour  was  past  midnight;  indeed, 
it  was  getting  near  dawn,  when  I  heard  low  tones 
proceeding  from  a  private  room  near  where  the  Presi 
dent  slept.  The  door  was  partly  open.  I  saw  the 
President  kneeling  beside  an  open  window.  The 
light  was  turned  low  in  the  room,  his  back  was  toward 
me.  For  a  moment  I  was  silent,  looking  in  amazement 
and  wonder.  Then  he  cried  out  in  tones  pleading  and 
sorrowful:  "Oh,  Thou  God  that  heard  Solomon  in  the 
night  when  he  prayed  for  wisdom,  hear  me.  I  cannot 
lead  this  people;  I  cannot  guide  the  affairs  of  this 
nation  without  Thy  help.  I  am  poor  and  weak  and 
sinful.  Oh,  God,  Who  didst  hear  Solomon  when  he 
cried  for  wisdom,  hear  me  and  save  this  nation." 
[Then,  Mr.  Murdock  adds]:  I  think  from  that  time 
the  clouds  which  had  long  lain  threatening  over  the 
affairs  of  our  Government  began  to  roll  away.  The 
skies  were  brighter ;  the  smile  of  heaven  was  upon  our 
President;  God  heard  his  prayer  and  sent  deliver 
ance.  J 

We  often  wonder  whether  the  narratives  in 
Holy  Writ  of  the  intimate  communion  of  the 
prophets  with  God  and  their  direct  guidance,  is 
not  a  touch  of  oriental  imagination  or  illusion,  or 
the  vision  of  the  night.  But  the  incident  related 
by  General  Rusling  in  his  Men  and  Things  I  Saw 

1  The  Presbyterian,  April  5,  1893. 


284  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

in  Civil  War  Days,  and  corroborated  by  General 
Daniel  E.  Sickles,  without  any  substantial  disa 
greement  as  to  the  important  facts  involved,  would 
help  convince  us  that  the  Almighty  still  concerns 
himself  with  the  affairs  of  men. 

It  was  Sunday,  July  5,  1863,  the  day  following 
the  great  victory  at  Gettysburg  where  Gen. 
Sickles  lost  a  leg.  He  had  been  removed  to  Wash 
ington  and  was  occupying  a  room  in  a  temporary 
hospital  where  President  Lincoln  called  upon  him 
early  Sunday  morning.  In  reply  to  a  question 
from  Gen.  Sickles  whether  or  not  the  President 
was  anxious  about  the  battle  at  Gettysburg,  Gen. 
Rusling  reports  that  Lincoln  gravely  said : 

* '  No,  I  was  not.  Some  of  my  Cabinet  and  many 
others  in  Washington  were,  but  I  had  no  fears." 

Gen.  Sickles  inquired  how  this  was,  and  seemed 
curious  about  it.  Mr.  Lincoln  hesitated,  but 
finally  replied: 

Well,  I  will  tell  you  how  it  was.  In  the  pinch 
of  your  campaign  up  there,  when  everybody  seemed 
panic-stricken  and  nobody  could  tell  what  was  going 
to  happen,  oppressed  by  the  gravity  of  our  affairs,  I 
went  to  my  room  one  day  and  locked  the  door  and  got 
down  on  my  knees  before  Almighty  God  and  prayed 
to  him  mightily  for  victory  at  Gettysburg.  I  told 
Him  that  this  war  was  His,  and  our  cause  His  cause, 
but  we  could  not  stand  another  Fredericksburg  or 


LINCOLN  ON  HIS  KNEES  285 

Chancellors ville.  Then  and  there  I  made  a  solemn 
vow  to  Almighty  God  that  if  He  would  stand  by  our 
boys  at  Gettysburg,  I  would  stand  by  Him,  and  He 
did  stand  by  you  boys,  and  I  will  stand  by  Him.  And 
after  that,  I  don't  know  how  it  was,  and  I  cannot 
explain  it,  soon  a  sweet  comfort  crept  into  my  soul. 
The  feeling  came  that  God  had  taken  the  whole  busi 
ness  into  His  own  hands,  and  that  things  would  go 
right  at  Gettysburg,  and  that  is  why  I  had  no  fears 
about  you. 

As  concerning  Vicksburg,  the  news  of  which 
victory  had  not  yet  reached  him,  he  said : 

"I  have  been  praying  for  Vicksburg  also  and 
believe  our  Heavenly  Father  is  going  to  give  us 
victory  there  too." 

Of  course,  he  did  not  know  that  Vicksburg  had 
already  surrendered  the  day  before. 

General  Rusling  says  that  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke 
solemnly  and  pathetically  as  if  from  the  depth 
of  his  heart,  and  that  his  manner  was  deeply 
touching. 

The  Confederacy  reached  its  high- water  mark  at 
Gettysburg.  The  battle  started  by  mistake,  and 
the  charge  of  the  First  Minnesota  Regiment,  with 
its  resultant  losses,  broke  the  record  of  the  Civil 
War  for  fatality.  Pickett's  charge  and  repulse 
reached  the  bloody  angle  of  pre-eminence.  At 
sundown,  General  Meade  was  bewildered,  not 


286  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

knowing  what  step  to  take  next,  when  a  strange 
and  irresistible  impression  moved  him  to  order  up 
his  reserves.  At  daylight,  he  was  ready  to  meet 
the  Confederate  advance.  He  had  a  similar 
experience  the  second  night  with  a  similar  result. 
What  was  the  secret  of  the  President?  Why 
was  he  rightly  directed  when  the  destiny  of  the 
nation  was  at  stake?  Whence  the  light  in  those 
days  of  darkness  by  which  he  moved  with  uner 
ring  instinct  to  victory?  Draw  what  conclusions 
we  may,  there  is  ever  in  the  normal  mind  the  vision 
of  the  prostrate  figure  of  the  great  war  President, 
lying  on  his  face  on  the  floor  of  the  White  House, 
crying  out  of  the  deep  of  his  anxiety:  "Save,  Lord, 
or  we  perish!"  And  Lincoln,  at  least,  believed 
God  answered  prayer. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

LIVING   HIS   RELIGION 

SOME  men  seem  naturally  good.  Lincoln  has 
his  proper  place  among  all  such.  Yet  it  was  re 
served  for  Christianity  to  lift  him  up  above  all 
other  good  men  of  his  time,  to  put  the  final  elevat 
ing  touch  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  him,  and  to  make 
him  in  the  Christian  sense  a  man  of  God.  We 
have  already  seen  how  with  his  penetrating  and 
inclusive  mind,  he  worked  out  before  he  died  a 
Christian  theology  singularly  consistent  and  com 
plete.  We  come  now  to  consider  the  expression  of 
his  Christian  faith  in  terms  of  everyday  existence. 

He  once  said  in  his  Springfield  days,  "Whenever 
any  church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar  as  a  qualifica 
tion  for  membership  the  Saviour's  statement  of 
the  substance  of  the  law  and  Gospel,  'Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself/  that  church  will  I  join  with 
all  my  heart  and  soul." l  In  reply  to  a  committee 

1  Curtis,  374. 

287 


288  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

from  the  Evangelical  Lutheran,  General  Synod, 
Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "You  all  may  recollect  that  in 
taking  up  the  sword,  thus  forced  into  our  hands, 
this  government  appealed  to  the  prayers  of  the 
pious  and  good  and  declared  that  it  placed  its 
whole  dependence  upon  the  favour  of  God.  I  now 
humbly  and  reverently,  in  your  presence,  reiterate 
the  acknowledgment  of  that  dependence."1 

To  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society, 
he  said :  ' '  I  can  only  thank  you  for  thus  adding  to 
the  effective  and  almost  unanimous  support  which 
the  Christian  communities  are  so  zealously  giving 
to  the  country  and  to  liberty."2 

In  reply  to  an  address  from  the  Society  of 
Friends,  delivered  to  him  at  the  White  House, 
Sept.  28,  1862,  he  said:  "I  am  glad  to  know  I 
have  your  sympathy  and  prayers.  In  the  very 
responsible  position  in  which  I  happen  to  be  placed, 
being  a  humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  our 
Heavenly  Father,  as  I  am  and  as  we  all  are  to 
work  out  His  great  purposes,  I  have  desired  that  all 
my  works  and  acts  may  be  according  to  His  will 
and  that  it  might  be  so,  I  have  sought  His  aid."3 

To  a  committee  of  sixty-five  members  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 

1  Complete  works  of  Abraham  Lincoln.     Nicolay  and  Hay. 
•Ibid.  *Ibid. 


LIVING  HIS  RELIGION  289 

the  United  States  of  America,  he  said:  "Relying 
as  I  do  upon  Almighty  God  and  encouraged,  as  I 
am  by  the  resolutions  which  you  have  just  read, 
with  the  support  which  I  receive  from  Christian 
men,  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  use  all  the  means  at  my 
control  to  secure  the  termination  of  the  rebellion 
and  will  hope  for  success. ' ' x 

In  a  letter  of  reply  to  a  deputation  of  ministers 
who  presented  to  him  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  May  18,  1864,  he  said:  "God  bless  the 
Methodist  Church,  bless  all  the  Churches — and 
blessed  be  God  who  in  this  our  great  trial,  giveth 
u  the  Churches."2  He  never  was  formally  at 
tached  to  any  church,  though  he  had  a  passion 
not  merely  for  attending  Sunday  services  but  also 
midweek  prayer  meetings.3  Abraham  Lincoln, 
however,  won  from  those  whose  judgment  we  all 
value,  tributes  to  his  Christian  character  not 
usually  paid  church  members,  perhaps  if  taken  in 
the  large  never  paid  before  to  any  other  soul  save 
Jesus  Christ.  Surely  that  devoted  youthful  secre 
tary,  John  Hay,  who  lived  to  be  at  last  himself  a 
model  of  high-minded  statesmanship,  spoke  hon- 

1  Complete  works  of  Abraham  Lincoln.     Nicolay  and  Hay. 
'Ibid. 

3  Lincoln  the  Christian,  Johnson,  p.  13. 
19 


2QO  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

estly  when  he  called  Lincoln  "the  greatest  man 
since  Christ."  Theodore  Roosevelt,  a  student 
till  the  last  of  Lincoln,  said:  "If  ever  there  was  a 
man  who  practically  applied  what  is  taught  in  our 
churches  it  was  Abraham  Lincoln."  Dr.  J.  G. 
Holland,  while  the  world  was  still  aghast  at  Lin 
coln's  untimely  taking  off,  predicted  that  "Mr. 
Lincoln  will  always  be  remembered  as  eminently 
a  Christian  President."  Tolstoy  pictured  Lincoln 
as  "a  miniature  Christ."  And  it  was  a  devout 
Roman  Catholic  Priest,  Father  Chiniquy,  who 
"found  him  the  most  perfect  type  of  Christian." 

In  his  own  heart  Lincoln  was  ever  building  up 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  was  in  fact  a 
member  of  the  Church  invisible  and  indivisible. 
While  he  was  working  out  a  Christian  theology 
altogether  satisfying,  he  was  also  giving  proof  in 
all  of  his  relationships  with  men  that  he  did  love 
his  neighbour  as  he  loved  himself;  that  beneath  all 
differences  of  opinion  he  perceived  the  Christlike 
in  his  fellows;  that  no  incidental  error,  no  petty 
jealousy,  no  subtle  ambition,  no  overweening  arro 
gance,  no  actual  unfaithfulness  to  himself  could 
blind  him  to  the  good  inherent  in  all  men  or  make 
him  for  a  moment  overlook  the  necessity  of  bear 
ing  all  things  and  enduring  all  things,  however  dis 
agreeable,  to  insure  his  country's  profiting  by  the 


LIVING  HIS  RELIGION  291 

best  talent  and  experience  that  could  be  enlisted 
in  its  service. 

It  is  worth  while  to  make  a  special  study  of 
Lincoln's  relationships  with  some  of  those  nearest 
to  him  from  1861  to  1865  in  order  to  appreciate 
his  Christian  attitude  steadily  maintained  in  spite 
of  every  aggravation  and  insult.  William  H. 
Seward  had  expected  to  be  President.  He  came 
into  the  Cabinet  assuming  he  was  greater  than 
the  man  who  had  been  great  enough  to  call  the 
greatest  to  his  side  because  the  times  demanded 
the  greatest  to  save  the  Union.  Seward  was,  in 
deed,  a  man  of  far  higher  education  and  of  wider 
reputation  as  publicist,  orator,  and  statesman. 
He  had  been  Governor  of  the  great  Empire  State 
and  United  States  Senator.  By  common  consent 
he  took  intellectual  precedence  over  any  active 
leader  of  his  party  in  the  movement  that  resulted 
in  the  triumph  of  the  Republican  Party  in  1860. 

If  Lincoln  had  any  ground  for  resentment 
toward  Seward,  it  was  not  because  Seward  had 
been  his  chief  political  rival,  but  because  of  his 
patronizing  arrogance  and  assumption  of  superior 
ity,  as  when  he  submitted  to  the  President,  on 
April  i,  1 86 1,  a  remarkable  state  paper  in  which 
he  had  the  effrontery  to  declare  at  the  end  of  a 
month  in  office  that  the  administration  was  as  yet 


292  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

without  a  policy,  either  foreign  or  domestic,  and 
that  the  United  States  should  demand  a  categori 
cal  explanation  from  Spain  and  France,  with  the 
alternative  of  a  declaration  of  war  against  them 
in  case  their  explanation  was  not  satisfactory. 
"But  whatever  policy  is  adopted,"  Seward  de 
clared,  "there  must  be  an  energetic  prosecution  of 
it.  For  this  purpose  it  must  be  somebody's  busi 
ness  to  pursue  and  direct  it  incessantly.  Either 
the  President  must  do  it  himself  and  be  all  the 
while  active  in  it,  or  devolve  it  upon  some  member 
of  his  Cabinet.  Once  adopted,  debate  on  it  must 
end,  and  all  agree  and  abide.  It  is  not  in  my 
special  province,  but  I  neither  seek  to  evade  or 
assume  responsibility. ' ' 

Seward 's  meaning  would  not  have  been  plainer 
if  he  had  suggested  outright  to  Mr.  Lincoln  that 
he  abdicate  the  functions  of  the  Presidency  and 
turn  them  over  to  the  Secretary  of  State.  Almost 
any  other  man  in  Lincoln's  place  would  have  taken 
Seward 's  arrogance  as  a  personal  insult,  and 
promptly  have  ejected  him  from  the  Cabinet.  In 
stead,  Lincoln  immediately  sent  Mr.  Seward  a 
reply  couched  in  tactful  but  firm  language,  in 
which,  by  superior  logic,  he  allowed  his  shrewd 
secretary  to  discover  for  himself  wherein  he  had 
erred  and  what  was  his  real  place  in  the  administra- 


LIVING  HIS  RELIGION  293 

tion.  The  hand  of  iron  was  covered  with  the  glove 
of  velvet.  By  quotations  from  his  first  Inaugural 
Address,  Lincoln  proved  that  the  administration 
had  a  policy,  and  that  it  had  been  persistently 
pursued,  both  in  domestic  and  foreign  matters.  In 
regard  to  Seward's  suggestion  as  to  the  person 
who  should  be  charged  with  the  responsibility  of 
carrying  out  the  policy  that  might  be  adopted, 
Mr.  Lincoln  said: 

If  this  must  be  done,  I  must  do  it.  When  a  general 
line  of  policy  is  adopted,  I  apprehend  there  is  no 
danger  of  its  being  changed  without  good  reason,  by 
continuing  to  be  a  subject  of  unnecessary  debate. 
Still,  upon  points  arising  in  its  progress,  I  wish,  and 
suppose  I  am  entitled  to  have,  the  advice  of  all  the 
Cabinet. 

Severe  as  was  the  rebuke,  Seward  accepted  it 
in  a  becoming  spirit,  and  remained  in  the  Cabinet 
without  sacrifice  of  self-respect.  Never  after  did 
he  attempt  to  encroach  upon  the  President's  pre 
rogative,  or  to  look  upon  him  as  in  any  way  in 
ferior.  To  his  chief,  he  gave  without  reservation 
his  tireless  industry  and  unstinted  support  those 
four  hard  years,  and  when  Lincoln  died,  it  was 
Seward  who  described  him  as  the  best  man  he  had 
ever  known. 

Toward  Secretary  Stanton,   Lincoln's  magna- 


294  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

nimity  was  even  greater.  In  the  summer  of  1857, 
Stanton  had  greatly  insulted  and  humiliated  Lin 
coln  on  the  occasion  of  the  latter's  visit  to  Cincin 
nati  as  associate  counsel  with  Stanton  in  the 
important  case  of  McCormick  vs.  Manny.  Lincoln 
expected  to  make  one  of  the  arguments  in  the  case, 
and  had  prepared  with  unusual  care.  As  the  case 
was  of  national  importance,  Lincoln's  prominent 
appearance  in  connection  with  it  would  have  been 
of  real  value  to  him  professionally.  But  Stanton 
professed  to  be  shocked  by  Lincoln's  uncouth 
appearance,  treated  him  with  rude  contempt,  and 
even  spoke  contemptuously  of  him,  within  his 
hearing,  as  an  ignorant  backwoodsman.  Stanton 
made  such  protest  against  Lincoln's  appearing 
prominently  in  the  case  that  Lincoln  waived  his 
rights,  took  a  back  seat,  and  permitted  Stanton  to 
make  the  argument  which  he  had  himself  expected 
to  make. 

Four  years  later  it  was  Stanton  who  was  called 
into  the  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War.  Even  this 
act  was  not  the  full  measure  of  Lincoln's  magna 
nimity.  In  June,  1861,  Stanton  gave  currency  in 
writing  to  his  belief  that  the  rebels  would  be  in 
Washington  " within  thirty  days,"  in  consequence 
of  the  "painful  imbecility  of  Lincoln."  Fre 
quently,  throughout  the  remainder  of  Lincoln's 


LIVING  HIS  RELIGION  295 

life,  he  was  obliged  to  put  up  with  insolence  from 
his  Secretary  of  War.  But  he  never  abandoned 
his  patient  and  kindly  attitude  toward  Stanton,  or 
failed  to  give  him  support  in  any  policy  or  measure 
that  Stanton  undertook  for  the  good  of  the  cause 
for  which  they  both  laboured.  It  was  Stanton 
who,  completely  won  at  last  by  Lincoln,  broke  the 
solemn  silence  of  the  death  chamber  with  the  sub 
lime  statement,  made  as  Lincoln's  last  breath 
failed, 

"Now  he  belongs  to  the  ages!" 

Chase  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  proved  diffi 
cult  to  handle.  He  too,  had  an  exaggerated  idea  of 
his  own  importance  and  popularity.  His  political 
ambition  was  voracious.  Not  always  was  he 
strictly  loyal  to  his  Chief.  Every  soldier  who  was 
not  promoted  to  his  own  satisfaction,  and  every 
citizen  who  failed  of  appointment  as  postmaster, 
when  they  came  to  Washington,  drifted  around  to 
Chase's  Cave  of  Adullam.  They  comforted  each 
other  by  abusing  Lincoln  as  "the  old  coward," 
"the  old  gorilla,"  etc.,  and  were  unanimously  of 
the  opinion  that  "Congress  ought  to  impeach 
him."  All  of  which  was  faithtully  reported  to 
Mr.  Lincoln.  "Well,  that  does  not  make  it  so, 
does  it?  Mr.  Chase  is  a  good  Secretary.  The 


296  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

people  believe  in  him  and  take  his  money.  That 
is  what  we  want,  is  it  not?  I  think  we  will  keep 
him  at  it."  Such  was  always  Lincoln's  answer. 
It  seemed  to  him  of  little  consequence  what  Chase 
said  about  him  so  long  as  Chase  served  the  public. 
One  day  a  man  ran  into  Mr.  Lincoln's  office  and 
said,  "President  Lincoln,  do  you  know  where 
Chase  is  ? "  "  Yes. "  ' '  Do  you  know  that  he  has 
gone  to  the  Republican  Convention  in  Ohio?" 
"Yes."  "Do  you  know  that  he  is  going  to  make 
a  speech  there?"  "Yes."  "Don't  you  know 
that  he  wants  to  be  President,  and  that  you  ought 
to  keep  him  at  home?"  "Oh,  don't  worry  about 
Chase.  He  has  just  as  good  a  right  to  want  to  be 
President  as  any  man  in  America,  and  if  the  people 
want  Chase  to  be  President,  then  I  want  him  to  be 
President.  When  I  was  a  boy  I  worked  on  a  farm. 
We  ploughed  corn,  and  I  rode  the  horse  and  a 
neighbour  boy  held  the  plough.  The  horse  was 
lazy.  I  pounded  him  with  my  heels  and  the 
neighbour  boy  threw  clods  at  him,  but  he  would 
not  go  much,  till  one  day  a  blue-headed  fly  lit  on 
his  back  and  began  to  get  in  his  work.  The  horse 
could  not  switch  him  off,  and  started  to  run.  The 
neighbour  boy  cried:  'Abe,  Abe,  knock  off  that 
fly.'  I  said:  'No  you  don't,  isn't  that  just  what 
we  want?'  If  Chase  has  anything  in  his  head 


LIVING  HIS  RELIGION  297 

that  will  make  him  work  for  the  Republic,  isn't 
that  just  what  we  want?" 

Mr.  Chittenden,  the  last  survivor  of  the  Lincoln 
Cabinet,  is  reported  in  his  later  years  as  remark 
ing  to  an  intimate  friend:  "I  went  over  to  Mr. 
Lincoln's  office  one  morning  and  found  Mr.  Lin 
coln  sitting  there  with  his  head  bowed  down,  his 
chin  on  his  chest,  evidently  much  depressed.  He 
handed  me  a  letter  he  had  just  read.  It  was 
Chase's  letter,  resigning.  I  read  the  letter  and 
felt  overwhelmed,  and  said,  'President  Lincoln, 
you  cannot  afford  to  divide  the  party  at  such  a 
time.  You  must  hold  Chase  to  it.'  Mr.  Lincoln 
said:  'Mr.  Chittenden,  Mr.  Chase  has  determined 
the  matter  and  I  will  hold  him  to  that.'  After  a 
few  moments,  lifting  up  his  head  he  said:  'Mr. 
Chittenden,  Mr.  Chase  will  make  a  good  Chief 
Justice,  and  I  will  appoint  him.'  "  Continuing,  Mr. 
Chittenden  said :  "  I  had  long  known  and  loved  Mr. 
Lincoln,  but  when  I  saw  him  in  that  hour,  under 
the  sting  of  personal  insult,  and  under  the  shadow 
of  threatened  calamity,  put  that  man  into  the 
highest  place  in  the  Nation,  for  the  good  of  the 
Republic,  he  went  up  and  up,  into  an  atmosphere 
of  which  I  had  never  dreamed.  He  was  the 
greatest  man  I  ever  saw." 

The   Postmaster-General,    Montgomery   Blair, 


298  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

brought  the  President  a  problem  quite  as  difficult 
to  solve.  Though  loyal  to  the  Union,  Blair  had 
incurred  the  hostility  of  nearly  all  the  radical  Re 
publicans  in  the  country.  The  Baltimore  Conven 
tion  which  renominated  Lincoln  in  1864  adopted 
a  resolution  evidently  aimed  at  the  Postmaster- 
General  calling  for  the  reorganization  of  the  Cabi 
net  in  the  interest  of  harmony.  Letters  poured 
in  upon  the  President  urging  outright  the  immedi 
ate  removal  of  Blair.  Henry  Wilson,  afterwards 
Vice-President,  wrote:  "Blair  everyone  hates. 
Tens  of  thousands  of  men  will  be  lost  to  you  or  will 
give  a  reluctant  vote,  on  account  of  the  Blairs." 
Neither  the  political  nor  the  military  outlook  was 
bright.  Lincoln  doubted  for  a  while  that  he  would 
win  a  second  term.  A  division  in  the  party  was 
developing,  and  Blair  was  manifestly  not  with 
Lincoln.  The  Cabinet  by  this  time  realizing  that 
Lincoln  was — as  John  Drinkwater  makes  one  of 
them  admit — "the  best  man  among  them,"  were 
lining  up  with  Lincoln  and  making  Blair's  position 
in  the  Cabinet  difficult  for  him. 

Lincoln,  however,  was  not  yet  convinced  that 
Blair  could  well  be  spared  from  public  service.  Nor 
was  he  of  a  mood  to  allow  his  Cabinet  to  drive  out 
from  the  sacred  circle  by  subtle  indiscretion  or  by 
studied  insult  one  who,  if  he  was  to  go  at  all,  should 


LIVING  HIS  RELIGION  299 

go  by  Presidential  wish  expressed  in  Christian 
courtesy.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  Lincoln 
read  the  Cabinet  a  lecture,  when  the  moment  for 
it  had  arrived,  which  all  could  understand  and 
none  would  dare  to  answer. 

I  must  myself  [he  said]  be  the  judge  how  long  to 
retain  and  when  to  remove  any  of  you  from  his  posi 
tion.  It  will  greatly  pain  me  to  discover  any  of  you 
endeavouring  to  promote  another's  removal  or  in  any 
way  to  prejudice  him  before  the  public.  Such  en 
deavour  would  be  a  wrong  to  me  and  much  worse,  a 
wrong  to  the  country.  My  wish  is  that  on  this  sub 
ject  no  remark  be  made  or  question  asked  by  any  of 
you,  here  or  elsewhere,  now  or  hereafter. 

Then  with  the  field  clear  to  deal  with  perfect 
fairness  with  all  in  any  way  concerned,  Lincoln 
watched  and  waited.  The  evidence  accumulated 
that  Blair  was  increasingly  losing  the  public  con 
fidence  on  which  his  usefulness  depended,  and  was 
not  likely  to  regain  it.  Meanwhile  as  the  month 
of  September  drew  near  its  end,  inspiring  news 
began  to  come  of  Union  victories.  The  Peace  at 
any  Price  Platform  adopted  by  the  Convention  at 
Chicago  which  nominated  McClellan  in  opposition 
to  the  President  was  evidently  not  a  winning  cause. 
The  entire  situation  was  now  as  bright  as  it  had 
been  dark  a  few  weeks  earlier.  The  peril  of  seem- 


300  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

ing  to  act  under  compulsion  or  menace  had  wholly 
disappeared.  Forbearance  under  the  intemperate 
utterances  of  Blair  was  no  longer  needful  for  the 
public  safety. 

Simply,  sincerely,  tenderly,  like  the  Christian 
gentleman  he  was,  Lincoln  wrote  to  his  Postmaster- 
General  : 

You  have  generously  said  to  me  more  than  once, 
that  whenever  your  resignation  could  be  a  relief  to  me, 
it  was  at  my  disposal.  The  time  has  come.  You 
very  well  know  that  this  proceeds  from  no  dissatis 
faction  of  mine  with  you  personally  or  officially.  Your 
uniform  kindness  has  been  unsurpassed  by  that  of  any 
friend;  and  while  it  is  true  that  the  War  does  not  so 
greatly  add  to  the  difficulties  of  your  Department  as 
to  those  of  some  others,  it  is  yet  much  to  say,  as  I 
most  truly  can,  that  in  the  three  years  and  a  half  dur 
ing  which  you  have  administered  the  General  Post 
Office,  I  remember  no  single  complaint  against  you 
in  connection  therewith. 

That  was  Lincoln's  way  of  Christian  manage 
ment  of  a  complex  case,  and  Blair  not  merely  re 
sponded  in  kind,  resigning  without  asking  for  an 
explanation,  but  in  addition  began  to  speak  and 
work  at  once  for  Mr.  Lincoln's  re-election. 

It  was  in  dealing  with  McClellan  that  Lincoln's 
magnanimity  attained  its  climax.  Almost  from 
the  first  he  endured  impertinence,  ingratitude,  and 


LIVING  HIS  RELIGION  301 

even  questionable  loyalty  from  McClellan.  At 
the  very  time  McClellan  was  writing  his  friends 
how  he  ' '  despised  the  old  dotard  because  he  defers 
to  me  so  much,"  Lincoln  was  refusing  the  demand 
of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War  for 
the  removal  of  McClellan. 

Once,  in  a  perilous  hour,  Mr.  Lincoln  went  to 
McClellan's  headquarters  to  consult  him. 
McClellan  was  out,  attending  the  wedding  of  a 
member  of  his  staff.  Mr.  Lincoln  waited  three 
hours.  McClellan  came  in  and  went  upstairs. 
Lincoln,  thinking  McClellan  did  not  know  the 
President  was  waiting  to  see  him,  sent  a  note 
to  the  General  that  he,  the  President,  wanted  to 
see  him  on  important  war  matters.  The  servant 
returned  with  this  message:  "Tell  Lincoln  that 
General  McClellan  has  gone  to  bed."  Even  this 
almost  incredible  insult  Lincoln  condoned,  doubt 
less  because  he  felt  that  the  exigencies  of  the  hour 
demanded  that  he  should.  He  held  the  pompous 
little  McClellan  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  had 
but  to  turn  it  edgewise  to  let  the  peacock  of  the 
Army  fall  into  oblivion. 

On  another  occasion,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  an  en 
gagement  with  McClellan  and  two  other  officers. 
McClellan  paid  no  attention  to  the  appointment. 
The  other  officers  spoke  their  minds  freely  in  re- 


302  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

gard  to  McClellan's  treatment  of  the  President. 
But  Lincoln  was  not  moved  from  his  consistent 
purpose  to  think  only  of  McClellan's  value  to  the 
country. 

McClellan  had  at  last  to  go.  He  would  not 
fight,  and  fighting  after  all  was  his  official  business. 
There  was  no  other  reason  why  he  should  be  the 
Commander  of  the  Army.  But  in  his  disposition 
of  McClellan's  case  as  in  that  of  Seward,  Stanton, 
Chase,  and  Blair,  Lincoln  was  never  thinking  of 
himself,  intent  only  on  the  fulfilment  of  his  oath 
of  office  to  preserve  the  Union,  living  out  the 
words  of  the  Man  of  Nazareth. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE   CHARM   OF   SIMPLE   GOODNESS 

As  a  wilderness  lad  in  Kentucky,  as  a  youth  in 
the  wilds  of  Indiana,  as  a  struggling  man  in  Illinois, 
and  finally,  as  bearer  of  the  Nation's  burdens, 
it  could  be  said  of  Lincoln  as  Wordsworth  wrote 
of  Milton : 

So  didst  thou  travel  on  life's  common  way, 
In  cheerful  godliness ;  and  yet  thy  heart 
The  lowliest  duties  on  itself  did  lay. 

There  still  lives  in  Springfield  an  aged  woman 
who  told  a  recent  visitor  that  when  she  was  a  little 
girl  waiting  with  trunk  packed  to  take  her  first 
railway  journey,  Mr.  Lincoln  passed  the  house  and 
finding  her  in  tears  lest  she  should  miss  her  train, 
took  her  cheerily  by  the  hand,  flung  her  trunk 
upon  his  stalwart  shoulder,  and  got  her  to  the 
train  in  time. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  visit  to  the  Five  Points  Mission 
in  New  York  can  never  be  forgotten,  if  only  to 
recall  how  little  children  gathered  round  him  and 

303 


304  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

called  forth  from  the  Great  Commoner  the  quiet 
comment  to  his  friend : ' '  I  have  now  a  better  under 
standing  than  ever  before  of  what  the  Saviour 
meant  when  He  said  'Of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.'" 

Lincoln  loved  to  play  with  children.  When 
Miss  Tarbell  in  the  nineties  was  preparing  her 
biography  of  Lincoln,  she  found  still  living  in 
Washington  men  and  women  who  as  children 
there  in  the  sixties  had  played  with  Lincoln.  Said 
Mr.  Francis  P.  Blair,  "the  boys  for  hours  at  a 
time  played  'town  ball'  on  the  vast  lawn  at  his 
grandfather's  place  near  Washington,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  drove  out  there  frequently  and  would 
join  ardently  in  the  sport.  I  remember  vividly 
how  he  ran  with  the  children;  how  long  were  his 
strides  and  how  far  his  coat-tails  stuck  out  be 
hind,  and  how  we  tried  to  hit  him  with  the  ball 
as  he  ran  the  bases.  He  entered  into  the  spirit  of 
the  play  as  completely  as  any  of  us." 

An  aged  conductor  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton 
Railroad  tells  a  story  which  illustrates  the  mysteri 
ous  distinction  simple  goodness  gave  to  Lincoln. 
Many  famous  men  were  wont  to  travel  on  that 
road :  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Norman  Judd,  Lyman 
Trumbull,  David  Davis,  as  well  as  Abraham 
Lincoln. 


THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS  305 

He  was  the  most  folksy  of  any  of  them  [said  the 
conductor  to  Mr.  J.  E.  Edwards].  He  put  on  no  airs. 
He  did  not  hold  himself  distant  from  any  man;  but 
there  was  something  about  him  which  we  plain  people 
couldn't  explain  that  made  us  stand  a  little  in  awe  of 
him.  I  now  know  what  it  was,  but  didn't  then.  It 
was  because  he  was  a  greater  man  than  any  other  we 
had  ever  seen.  You  could  get  near  him  in  a  sort  of 
neighbourly  way,  as  though  you  had  always  known 
him,  but  there  was  something  tremendous  between 
you  and  him  all  the  time.  I  have  eaten  with  him 
many  times  at  the  railroad  eating  houses,  and  you  get 
very  neighbourly  if  you  eat  together  in  a  railroad 
restaurant.  At  least  we  did  in  those  days.  Every 
body  tried  to  get  as  near  Lincoln  as  possible  when  he 
was  eating  because  he  was  such  good  company,  but 
we  always  looked  at  him  with  a  kind  of  wonder.  We 
couldn't  exactly  make  him  out.  Sometimes  I  would 
see  what  looked  like  a  dreadful  loneliness  in  his  face, 
and  I  used  to  wonder  what  he  was  thinking  about. 
Whatever  it  was  he  was  thinking  all  alone.  It  wasn't 
a  solemn  look,  like  Stephen  A.  Douglas  sometimes  had. 
Douglas  sometimes  made  me  think  of  an  owl.  He 
used  to  stare  at  you  with  his  great  dark  eyes  in  a  way 
that  frightened  you.  Lincoln  never  frightened  any 
body.  No  one  was  afraid  of  him,  but  there  was  some 
thing  about  him  that  made  plain  folks  feel  toward  him 
a  good  deal  as  a  child  feels  toward  his  father,  because 
you  know  every  child  looks  upon  his  father  as  a 
wonderful  man. 

Frederick  Douglass — not  long  up  from  slavery 
—became  a  man  of  consequence  in  Civil  War  days. 


306  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Regardless  that  Douglass  was  a  negro,  Lincoln 
more  than  once  consulted  him  concerning  public 
matters,  and  in  later  years  Douglass  said  Lincoln 
was  one  of  the  few  white  men  he  ever  knew  who 
never  in  any  way  reminded  him  in  conversation  of 
his  colour. I 

There  was  no  man  in  public  life  in  Lincoln's 
time  who  more  surely  personified  culture  and  ex- 
clusiveness  than  Charles  Sumner  of  Massachusetts, 
and  yet  in  his  funeral  oration  on  Lincoln  in  Boston, 
on  June  I,  1865,  he  laid  stress  on  the  simple  good 
ness  of  the  man  in  the  memorable  words : 

He  was  naturally  humane,  inclined  to  pardon,  and 
never  remembered  the  hard  things  said  against  him. 
He  was  always  good  to  the  poor,  and  in  his  dealings 
with  them  was  full  of  those  "kind  little  words  which 
are  of  the  same  blood  as  great  and  holy  deeds."  With 
him  as  President,  the  idea  of  republican  institutions, 
where  no  place  is  too  high  for  the  humblest,  was  per 
petually  manifest,  so  that  his  simple  presence  was 
like  a  proclamation  of  equality  for  all  men. 

No  wonder  William  Cullen  Bryant  wrote  of  him 
when  word  came  of  his  taking  off : 

Oh,  slow  to  smite  and  swift  to  spare, 
Gentle  and  merciful  and  just ; 
Who  in  the  fear  of  God  did'st  bear 
The  sword  of  power,  a  Nation's  trust. 

1  Carpenter,  p.  204. 


THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS  307 

It  was  the  goodness  of  the  man  that  from  the 
earlier  days  made  first  impression  on  each  new 
friend.  A  Democratic  lawyer  in  Chicago,  Mr. 
U.  F.  Linder,  said  soon  after  Lincoln's  death: 

I  was  introduced  to  him  at  the  hotel  in  Charleston, 
in  this  State,  in  the  year  1835.  There  struck  me  then 
more  than  anything  else  in  the  man,  the  expression  of 
goodness  and  kindness  which  gleamed  in  his  eyes,  and 
which  sat  there  all  the  days  of  his  life;  and  it  has 
seemed  to  me  a  hundred  times  since  I  heard  of  his 
assassination,  that  no  man  would  have  looked  in  his 
face  and  assassinated  him. J 

Some  people  affect  to  love  their  fellowmen  or 
have  a  spasmodic  attack  of  good  fellowship.  Lin 
coln  always,  in  every  circumstance,  showed  the 
instinct  of  neighbourliness  with  high  and  low,  rich 
and  poor.  This  was  now  and  then  interpreted  by 
the  "highbrows"  of  the  time  as  vulgarity.  But 
none  of  these  things  moved  Lincoln.  He  always 
lived  up  to  the  words  he  spoke  to  the  Wisconsin 
State  Agricultural  Society  at  Milwaukee,  in  1859: 
"To  correct  the  evils,  great  and  small,  which 
spring  up  from  want  of  sympathy  and  from  posi 
tive  enmity  among  strangers,  as  nations  or  as  in 
dividuals,  is  one  of  the  highest  functions  of 
civilization." 

1  Brockett,  Life  and  Times  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  p.  701. 


308  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

"The  President  of  the  United  States  has  a 
multiplicity  of  duties  not  specified  in  the  Consti 
tution  or  the  laws,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln  to  a  friend 
who  once  found  him  counting  some  greenbacks. 
"This  is  one  of  them.  This  money  belongs  to  a 
negro  porter  n  the  Treasury  Department  who  is 
now  in  the  hospital  so  sick  that  he  cannot  sign  his 
name.  According  to  his  wish,  I  am  putting  a  part 
of  it  aside  in  an  envelope,  labelled,  to  save  it  for 
him." 

It  was  not  enough  that  he  should  save  the  Union : 
he  must  also  save  the  savings  of  a  friendless  coloured 
man. 

Some  shepherds  of  men  have  been  too  busy  to  be 
kind;  Lincoln  was  so  busy  being  kind  that  often 
he  had  little  time  for  anything  else.  Arnold  says 
that  one  day  he  was  walking  along  the  tree-covered 
path  leading  from  the  Executive  Mansion  to  the 
War  Office.  He  saw  the  tall  form  of  the  President 
seated  on  the  grass  under  a  tree.  A  wounded 
soldier,  seeking  back-pay  and  a  pension,  had  met 
the  President  and  sought  his  counsel.  Taking  the 
soldier's  papers,  Lincoln  sat  down  upon  the  grass, 
examined  the  documents,  and  told  him  what  to  do, 
giving  him  a  note  to  the  proper  bureau,  and  thus 
secured  prompt  attention  for  the  wounded  man. 

On  another  occasion,  a  tax  having  been  levied 


THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS  309 

upon  oxen,  the  owner  of  a  pair  came  to  Lincoln, 
the  most  heavily  burdened  man  in  the  world, 
hoping  he  might  help  him  to  get  rid  of  the  tax.  Know 
ing  the  man,  and  remembering  the  oxen,  the  Presi 
dent,  like  an  oriental  patriarch,  kindly  said:  "Are 
those  the  oxen  I  see  standing  at  the  corner  when 
ever  I  go  to  the  Treasury?  I  never  see  them 
move.  Maybe  they  are  not  movable  property. 
Perhaps  we  may  get  them  put  down  as  real 
estate." 

On  one  of  his  visits  to  a  hospital,  Lincoln  sud 
denly  ordered  the  driver  to  stop.  A  man  had 
walked  directly  in  front  of  the  horses,  which  were 
brought  to  a  standstill  just  in  time  to  save  him 
from  being  run  down.  The  President  quickly 
discovered  that  the  unfortunate,  scarcely  more 
than  a  boy,  was  a  blind  soldier,  having  been  shot 
in  both  eyes.  Taking  his  hand,  Lincoln  asked  his 
name,  his  service  and  his  home.  The  sightless 
face  of  the  youth  was  all  aglow  with  gratitude  as 
he  heard  the  words  of  sympathy  spoken  by  the 
man  who,  on  leaving,  modestly  said:  "I  am 
Abraham  Lincoln." 

Next  day  a  commission,  signed  by  the  President, 
was  placed  in  the  youth's  hands.  He  was  made  a 
first  lieutenant  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States, 
and  was  retired  on  three  quarters  pay  for  life. 


3io  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

He  never  seemed  to  think  in  terms  of  self :  only  of 
his  country  and  his  neighbours.  Leaving  the  War 
Department  at  midnight  of  November  10,  1864, 
with  the  re-election  fresh  in  mind,  he  said : 

So  long  as  I  have  been  here  I  have  not  willingly 
planted  a  thorn  in  any  man's  bosom.  While  I  am 
deeply  sensible  of  the  high  compliment  of  re-election, 
and  duly  grateful,  as  I  trust,  to  Almighty  God  for  hav 
ing  directed  my  countrymen  to  a  right  conclusion,  as 
I  think  for  their  own  good,  it  adds  nothing  to  my  satis 
faction  that  any  other  man  may  be  disappointed  or 
pained  by  the  result.  May  I  ask  those  who  have  not 
differed  from  me  to  join  with  me  in  this  same  spirit 
toward  those  that  have? 

But  he  was  on  record  long  before  in  those  loving 
words  to  his  good  friend:  "Speed,  die  when  I  may, 
I  want  it  said  of  me  by  those  who  knew  me  best 
that  I  always  plucked  a  thistle  and  planted  a 
flower  when  I  thought  a  flower  would  grow." 

Goodness,  to  have  charm,  must  be  certain  of  it 
self.  It  must  live  above  all  concern  for  criticism. 
Lincoln  never  wasted  time  in  answering  attacks 
upon  him  save  when  silence  would  have  hurt  the 
cause  he  represented.  He  once  said:  "I  do  the 
very  best  I  know  how — the  very  best  I  can ;  and  I 
mean  to  keep  doing  so  until  the  end.  If  the  end 
brings  me  out  all  right,  what  is  said  against  me 
won't  amount  to  anything.  If  the  end  brings 


THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS 


me  out  wrong,  ten  angels  swearing  I  was  right 
would  make  no  difference."1 

The  charm  of  his  inherent  goodness  seemed 
sometimes  to  shine  out  from  his  homely  face.  On 
the  word  of  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Lincoln  once 
granted  the  request  of  an  aged  woman  whose  son 
had  been  convicted  of  a  grave  offence,  and  sent 
her  out  of  the  White  House  with  the  pardon  in  her 
pocket.  Silent  till  she  was  half  way  down  the 
stairs,  she  suddenly  broke  out  in  furious  indigna 
tion:  "I  knew  it  was  a  copperhead  lie!"  "What 
do  you  mean,"  said  Mr.  Stevens?  "Why,  they 
told  me  he  was  an  ugly  looking  man,"  she  answered 
in  excitement.  '  '  He  is  really  the  handsomest  man 
I  ever  saw."2 

He  had  his  convictions.  Woe  betide  the  man, 
Douglas  or  anybody  else,  who  thought  that  he 
could  shake  them.  Yet  Lincoln  saw  the  good 
there  usually  is  somewhere  on  the  other  side.  One 
of  his  old  friends,  who  lived  on  till  the  nineteenth 
century  was  at  an  end,  reports  this  human  com 
ment  Lincoln  made  on  slavery:  "We've  been 
wrong,  North  and  South,  about  slavery.  No  use 
to  blame  it  all  on  the  South.  We've  been  in  it, 
too,  from  the  start.  If  both  sides  had  been  willing 

1  Carpenter,  258. 
*Ibid.,  173. 


312  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

to  give  in  a  little,  we  might  have  worked  it  out, 
that  is,  if  we  had  all  been  willing  to  admit  the  thing 
was  wrong,  and  take  our  share  of  the  burden  in 
putting  an  end  to  it."1 

Nothing  pleased  him  more  in  his  simplicity 
than  for  men  to  recognize  that  he  was  trying  to 
do  the  will  of  God.  At  a  White  House  reception  a 
man  from  Buffalo  said:  "Up  my  way  we  believe 
in  God  and  Abraham  Lincoln."  "My  friend," 
replied  the  President,  "you  are  more  than  half 
right." 

A  Southern  woman  besought  the  President  to 
have  her  husband  released  from  a  Northern 
prison.  Though  his  politics  seemed  pernicious, 
she  emphasized  the  fact  that  he  was  a  religious 
man.  "I'm  glad  to  hear  that,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln, 
brightly;  and  the  woman  was  filled  with  hope. 
Then  the  President  went  on:  "Because  any  man 
who  wants  to  disrupt  this  Union  needs  all  the 
religion  in  sight  to  save  him." 

It  is  well  known  that  military  officials  were  con 
stantly  remonstrating  with  the  President  because 
he  often  interfered  in  cases  of  courts-martial.  Once, 
when  he  refused  to  countenance  the  shooting  of 
twenty -four  deserters  in  a  row,  he  said:  "There 

1  Ida  M.  Tarbell,  Red  Cross  Magazine,  February,  1920, 
p.  68. 


THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS  313 

are  already  too  many  weeping  widows;  for  God's 
sake,  don't  ask  me  to  add  to  the  number,  for  I 
won't  do  it." 

One  Thursday,  looking  at  a  great  pile  of  sen 
tences  upon  his  desk,  he  said:  "Tomorrow  is 
butcher's  day,  and  I  must  go  through  these  papers 
and  see  if  I  can't  find  some  excuse  to  let  these  poor 
fellows  off." 

A  father  besought  him  at  night  on  behalf  of  his 
nineteen-year-old  boy,  who  had  fallen  asleep  at  his 
post.  The  President  sat  up  in  his  night-clothes 
as  he  wrote  an  order  suspending  sentence,  and 
fearing  lest  his  order  might  miscarry,  he  dressed 
himself  and  went  in  person  to  the  War  Depart 
ment.  His  paternal  heart  was  such  that  he  could 
neither  slumber  nor  sleep. 

He  was  approached  one  day  by  a  broken 
hearted  old  man.  His  only  son  had  been  con 
victed  of  unpardonable  crimes  and  sentenced  to  be 
shot.  ' ' I  am  sorry  I  can  do  nothing  for  you,"  said 
Mr.  Lincoln,  kindly.  "Listen  to  this  telegram  I 
received  from  General  Butler  yesterday" : 

President  Lincoln,  I  pray  you  not  to  interfere 
with  the  courts-martial  of  the  army.  You  will 
destroy  all  discipline  among  our  soldiers. 

B.  F.  BUTLER. 


3H  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Watching  the  old  father's  grief  for  a  moment, 
Lincoln  then  exclaimed :  ' '  By  jingo !  Butler  or  no 
Butler,  here  goes!"  Writing  a  few  words,  he 
handed  the  paper  to  the  old  man,  reading: 

"Job  Smith  is  not  to  be  shot  until  further  orders 

from  me. 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN." 

"Why,"  exclaimed  the  father,  disappointedly, 
' '  I  thought  it  was  a  pardon.  You  may  order  him 
to  be  shot  next  week." 

"My  friend,"  answered  Lincoln,  "I  see  you  are 
not  very  well  acquainted  with  me.  If  your  son 
never  dies  till  orders  come  from  me  to  shoot  him, 
he  will  live  to  be  a  great  deal  older  than 
Methuselah." 

A  woman,  the  wife  of  one  of  Mosby's  men, 
called  on  the  President.  Her  husband  had  been 
condemned  to  be  shot,  and  she  came,  accompanied 
by  a  Senator,  to  seek  the  President's  pardon.  He 
heard  her  story,  and  then  inquired  what  kind  of 
man  her  husband  was.  "  Is  he  temperate  ?  Does 
he  abuse  the  children  and  beat  you?"  "No,  no," 
she  replied,  "he  is  a  good  man,  a  good  husband; 
he  loves  the  children  and  we  cannot  live  without 
him.  The  only  trouble  is  that  he  is  a  fool  about 
politics.  I  live  in  the  North,  born  there,  and  if 


THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS  315 

I  get  him  home,  he  will  do  no  more  fighting  for  the 
South. "  ' '  Well, ' '  said  the  President,  after  examin 
ing  the  papers,  "I  will  pardon  your  husband  and 
turn  him  over  to  you  for  safe  keeping."  Over 
whelmed  with  joy  the  wife  began  to  sob  as  if  her 
heart  would  break.  "My  dear  woman,"  said 
Lincoln,  "if  I  had  known  how  badly  it  was  going 
to  make  you  feel,  I  would  never  have  pardoned 
him."  "You  do  not  understand  me,"  she  cried, 
between  her  sobs,  "you  do  not  understand  me, 
Mr.  President ! "  "  Yes,  yes,  I  do, "  answered  Lin 
coln;  "and  if  you  do  not  go  away  at  once,  I  shall 
be  crying  with  you." 

Another  phase  of  Lincoln's  great  heart  is  mani 
fested  in  the  spirit  of  democracy  of  which  he  was 
the  incarnation.  A  sham  of  any  stamp  could  not 
live  in  the  presence  of  his  transparent  soul.  His 
horror  of  a  lie  was  intense.  As  an  illustration  of 
Lincoln's  honesty  and  hatred  of  pretence,  Herndon 
relates  that  he  once  drew  up  a  dilatory  plea  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  a  case  put  over  to  another  term 
of  court.  "Is  this  founded  on  fact?"  Lincoln 
asked.  Herndon  replied  that  he  had  merely  done 
it  to  safeguard  their  client's  interests.  Then 
Lincoln  answered:  "You  know  it  is  a  sham,  and  a 
sham  is  very  often  but  another  name  for  a  lie. 
Don't  let  it  go  on  record.  The  cursed  thing  may 


3i6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

come  staring  us  in  the  face  long  after  this  suit  is 
forgotten." 

Morgan,  in  his  biography,  relates  a  memorable 
dream  of  Lincoln's.  He  thought  he  was  in  a  vast 
assembly,  and  the  people  drew  back  to  let  him 
pass,  whereupon  Lincoln  heard  someone  say :  ' '  He 
is  a  common-looking  fellow/'  But  in  his  dream 
Lincoln  turned  to  the  man  and  said :  ' '  Friend,  the 
Lord  prefers  common-looking  people;  that  is  the 
reason  why  he  made  so  many  ot  them." 

No  wonder  that  on  leaving  Springfield  for  Wash 
ington,  we  hear  this  open-hearted  illustrator  of  the 
charm  of  simple  goodness  saying  to  Herndon,  his 
law  partner:  "Billy,  over  sixteen  years  together, 
and  we  have  not  had  a  cross  word  during  all  that 
time,  have  we?"  "Not  one."  "Don't  takedown 
the  sign,  Billy;  let  it  swing,  that  our  clients  may 
understand  that  the  election  of  a  President  makes 
no  change  in  the  firm  of  Lincoln  &  Herndon.  If  I 
live,  I'm  coming  back,  and  we  will  go  right  on 
practising  law  as  if  nothing  had  ever  happened." 
Then  they  left  the  office,  going  down  the  stairs 
and  across  the  town  to  the  railroad  station,  Lincoln 
never  to  come  back  alive. 

He  was  considerate  of  beast  and  bird  as  well  as 
folk.  One  day  when,  as  a  country  lawyer  accom 
panied  by  friends  he  was  going  over  the  circuit,  he 


THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS  317 

got  down  from  his  horse  in  a  heavy  storm  and 
soiled  his  boots  and  clothing  in  the  deep  mire  to 
release  a  pig  that  had  become  painfully  entangled 
in  a  fence.  When  his  companions  laughed  at  him 
for  his  kindly  interest  in  the  animal,  Lincoln  an 
swered:  "I  could  not  stand  the  look  in  that  pig's 
eye  as  we  rode  past ;  it  seemed  fo  say  to  me :  'There 
goes  my  last  chance.' ' 

On  another  occasion,  while  riding  the  circuit  in 
Illinois,  Lincoln  was  missed  by  his  fellow-lawyers. 
Joining  them  a  few  minutes  later,  he  explained 
that  he  had  caught  two  young  birds  which  the  wind 
had  blown  from  their  nest.  "I  could  not  have 
slept,"  he  said,  "unless  I  had  restored  those  little 
creatures  to  their  mother." 

He  never  lost  his  special  interest  in  the  poor  and 
the  distressed.  Located  near  the  White  House  in 
Washington  was  a  primary  and  intermediate 
school,  the  yard  of  which  was  separated  by  a  fence 
from  the  rear  end  of  the  White  House  grounds. 
One  of  the  events  that  stands  out  distinctly  in  the 
memory  of  some  of  those  schoolboys  is  this:  One 
day  the  teacher  gave  a  lesson  on  neatness,  asking 
each  boy  to  come  to  school  next  day  with  his  boots 
blacked.  They  all  obeyed,  excepting  John  S.,  a 
poor,  one-armed  lad,  who  brought  down  upon  him 
self  no  end  of  ridicule,  because  he  had  used  stove 


3i8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

blacking,  the  only  kind  of  polish  which  his  humble 
home  afforded.  Boys  are  sometimes  merciless 
in  their  ridicule.  This  boy,  only  nine  years  old, 
and  doubly  sensitive  because  of  his  lost  arm,  tried 
to  be  brave,  but  his  lips  were  quivering  and  the 
tears  were  in  his  eyes,  when  the  jeering  suddenly 
stopped,  for  there1,  leaning  upon  the  fence  and 
listening,  stood  the  President. 

Uttering  no  word  of  reproof,  but  entering  the 
schoolhouse,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  inquiry  of  the 
teacher.  He  learned  that  John  was  a  son  of  a 
dead  soldier,  and  that  his  mother,  who  had  other 
children,  was  a  washerwoman.  Then  he  went 
away,  and  it  was  many  days  before  he  returned 
again ;  but  the  next  morning  John  was  at  school  in  a 
new  suit,  and  with  new  shoes  radiant  of  the  best 
blacking.  The  change  was  so  great  the  boys 
hardly  recognized  their  companion.  John  reported 
that  the  afternoon  before,  the  President  and  Mrs. 
Lincoln  and  another  lady  called  at  his  home,  in 
their  carriage;  that  the  President  had  taken  him 
to  a  clothing  store  and  bought  him  two  suits ;  and 
that  while  he  was  doing  this,  the  ladies  made  in 
quiries  of  his  mother,  which  later  were  followed 
by  clothing  for  the  two  little  girls  and  a  supply  of 
coal  and  groceries.  In  addition  to  this  informa 
tion  the  lad  brought  to  his  teacher  a  scrap  of  paper 


THE  CHARM  OF  SIMPLE  GOODNESS  319 

containing  a  verse  of  Scripture  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  requested  to  have  written  on  the  blackboard : 
"Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the 
least  of  these  My  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
Me."  Some  weeks  later,  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
visited  the  school  again,  the  verse  was  still  on  the 
blackboard  and  the  teacher  called  his  attention  to 
it.  Adjusting  his  spectacles,  he  read  it;  then, 
removing  his  eyeglasses  and  wiping  them,  the  boys 
thought  they  saw  tears  in  his  kindly  eyes.  He 
quickly  replaced  his  glasses,  and,  taking  a  crayon, 
said:  "Boys,  I  have  another  quotation  from  the 
Bible,  and  I  hope  you  will  learn  it,  and  come  to 
know  its  truth  as  I  have  known  and  felt  it. "  Then 
below  the  verse  he  wrote : 

"It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

DISCIPLINED   BY   GRIEF 

.  MR.  LINCOLN'S  fondness  for  children  was  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  traits  of  his  character.  This 
trait  doubtless  accentuated  his  love  for  his  own 
son  Willie,  whose  death  so  rent  the  father's  soul 
that  for  a  time  it  seemed  his  mind  would  be  un 
seated.  But  he  emerged  from  his  great  sorrow 
disciplined  into  religious  maturity. 

Miss  Ida  Tarbell,  in  her  excellent  biography  of 
Lincoln,  says: 

The  protecting  sympathy  and  tenderness  of  the 
President,  extended  to  all  children,  became  a  passion 
ate  affection  for  his  own.  Willie  and  Tad  had  always 
been  privileged  at  the  White  House,  and  their  pranks 
and  companionship  did  much  to  relieve  the  tremend 
ous  strain  under  which  the  President  was  suffering. 
Many  visitors  who  saw  him  with  the  lads  at  this  period 
have  recorded  their  impressions  how  keenly  he  en 
joyed  their  company,  how  indulgent  and  affectionate 
he  was  with  them.  When  both  children  fell  ill,  when 
their  father  saw  them  suffering  and  when  it  became 
evident  as  it  afterwards  did,  that  Willie  the  elder  of 
the  two,  would  die,  Mr.  Lincoln's  anguish  was  un- 

320 


DISCIPLINED  BY  GRIEF  321 

speakable.  He  would  slip  away  from  the  visitors  and 
the  Capitol  at  every  opportunity  to  visit  the  sick  room. 

During  the  last  four  cr  five  days  of  Willie's  life, 
when  the  child  was  suffering  terribly  and  lay  in  an 
unbroken  delirium,  the  father  shared  with  the  nurse 
the  nightly  vigils  at  the  bedside.  When  Willie  finally 
died,  the  President  was  so  prostrated  that  it  was  feared 
by  many  of  his  friends  that  he  would  succumb  entirely 
to  his  grief.  Standing  by  the  side  of  his  boy,  he  said 
to  the  nurse, ' '  This  is  the  hardest  trial  of  my  life.  Why 
is  it?  Why  is  it?"  In  the  course  of  a  conversation 
with  her,  he  questioned  her  concerning  her  situation. 
She  told  him  she  was  a  widow  and  that  her  husband 
and  two  children  were  in  Heaven,  and  added  that  she 
saw  the  hand  of  God  in  it  all  and  that  she  had  never 
loved  Him  before  as  she  had  since  her  affliction. 
"How  was  that  brought  about?"  inquired  Mr.  Lin 
coln.  "Simply  by  trusting  in  God  and  feeling  that 
He  does  all  things  well,"  she  replied.  "Did  you  sub 
mit  fully  to  the  first  loss? "  he  asked.  "No,"  she  an 
swered,  "not  wholly,  but  as  blow  came  upon  blow  and 
all  was  taken,  I  could  and  did  submit,  and  was  very 
happy."  He  responded,  "  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say 
that.  Your  experience  will  help  me  bear  my  afflic 
tion."  On  being  assured  that  many  Christians  were 
praying  for  him  on  the  morning  of  the  funeral,  he 
wiped  away  the  tears  that  sprang  to  his  eyes  and 
said,  "I  am  glad  to  hear  that.  I  want  them  to  pray 
for  me.  I  need  their  prayers." 

As  he  was  going  out  to  the  burial,  the  good  woman 
expressed  her  sympathy  with  him.  He  thanked  her 
gently  and  said,  "I  will  try  to  go  to  God  with  my  sor 
row."  A  few  days  afterward  she  asked  him  if  he 
could  trust  God.  He  replied,  "I  think  I  can,  and  I 


322  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

will  try.  I  wish  I  had  the  childlike  faith  you  speak 
of,  and  I  trust  He  will  give  it  to  me."  And  then  he 
spoke  of  his  mother,  who  so  many  years  before  had 
been  committed  to  the  dust  among  the  wilds  of  In 
diana.  In  this  hour  of  his  greatest  trial  the  memory 
of  her  who  had  held  him  upon  her  bosom  and  soothed 
his  childish  griefs  came  back  to  him  with  tenderest 
recollections.  "I  remember  her  prayers,"  said  he, 
"and  they  have  always  followed  me.  They  have 
clung  to  me  all  my  life." 

Never  perhaps  was  a  human  heart  more  sore 
than  Lincoln's  after  Willie  died.  He  drank  the 
dregs  of  sorrow,  and  only  religion  could  bring  him 
any  consolation.  Those  were  not  the  days  of 
shorthand  interviews.  Doubtless  some  entirely 
trustworthy  witnesses  who  have  reported  Lincoln's 
outpoured  grief  to  them  are  only  substantially 
correct.  But  that  is  quite  enough.  He  made  on 
several  the  same  impression  Simon  Peter  must 
have  made  when  he  said  to  our  Lord:  "To  whom 
shall  we  go ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

In  the  Episcopal  Church  of  war  times  no  man 
was  worthier  in  reputation  or  mightier  in  words 
than  the  Rector  of  historic  Trinity  Church  of  New 
York  City,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Vinton.  Being 
in  Washington  when  Lincoln's  mourning  was  al 
most  melancholy,  through  Mrs.  Lincoln  whom  he 
knew,  he  was  invited  to  the  White  House.  He 


DISCIPLINED  BY  GRIEF  323 

spoke  straight  from  the  heart  in  pastoral  consola 
tion  to  the  President  as  he  would  comfort  one  of 
his  own  flock. 

"Your  son  is  alive." 

"Alive,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Lincoln.  "Surely  you 
mock  me." 

' '  No,  sir :  believe  me, "  answered  Dr.  Vinton ;  "  it 
is  a  most  comforting  doctrine  of  the  Church, 
founded  on  the  words  of  Christ  Himself." 

Mr.  Lincoln  threw  his  arms  around  Dr.  Vinton's 
neck,  laid  his  head  upon  his  breast,  and  sobbed 
aloud,  "Alive!  Alive!" 

Dr.  Vinton  greatly  moved  said:  "My  dear  sir, 
believe  this,  for  it  is  God's  most  precious  truth. 
Seek  not  your  son  among  the  dead :  he  is  not  there ; 
he  lives  today  in  paradise!  God  has  called  your 
son  into  His  upper  kingdom —  a  kingdom  and  an 
existence  as  real,  more  real,  than  your  own.  It 
is  a  part  of  God's  plan  for  the  ultimate  happiness 
of  you  and  yours.  Doubt  it  not.  Think  of  the 
full  import  of  the  words  I  have  quoted.  The  Sad- 
ducees,  when  they  questioned  Jesus,  had  no  other 
conception  than  that  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob 
were  dead  and  buried.  Mark  the  reply:  'Now 
that  the  dead  are  raised,  even  Moses  showed 
at  the  bush  when  he  called  the  Lord  the  God  of 
Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  -the  God  of  Jacob. 


324  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

For  he  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  liv 
ing,  for  all  live  unto  Him!'  Did  not  the  aged 
patriarch  mourn  his  sons  as  dead? — 'Joseph  is 
not,  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will  take  Benjamin 
also.'  But  Joseph  and  Simeon  were  both  living, 
though  he  believed  it  not.  Indeed,  Joseph  being 
taken  from  him,  was  the  eventual  means  of  the 
preservation  of  the  whole  family.  And  so  God 
has  called  your  son  into  His  upper  kingdom — a 
kingdom  and  an  existence  as  real,  more  real,  than 
your  own.  It  may  be  that  he  too,  like  Joseph, 
has  gone,  in  God's  good  providence,  to  be  the 
salvation  of  his  father's  household.  It  is  a  part 
of  the  Lord's  plan  for  the  ultimate  happiness  of 
you  and  yours.  Doubt  it  not." 

Dr.  Vinton  then  told  Lincoln  that  he  had  a 
sermon  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Lincoln  asked  him  to 
send  it  to  him  as  early  as  possible  and  thanked  him 
repeatedly  for  his  cheering  and  hopeful  words. 
When  Lincoln  received  the  sermon  he  read  it  over 
and  over,  and  had  a  copy  made  for  his  own  private 
use.  A  member  of  the  family  said  that  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  views  in  relation  to  spiritual  things  seemed 
changed  from  that  hour. * 

Those  who  have  studied  carefully  the  Lincoln 
pictures  have  learned  that  it  was  about  this  time  a 

'Johnson,  pp.  81-84;  Carpenter,  pp.  117-19;  Barton,  206-8. 


DISCIPLINED  BY  GRIEF  325 

new  gravity  settled  on  his  face.  A  resigned  sadness 
began  to  look  forth  from  his  solemn  eyes.  He  had 
found  more  of  the  peace  that  passeth  understand 
ing.  His  confidence  in  immortality  grew  stronger. 
But  his  mind  dwelt  more  on  death.  He  talked 
oftener  of  his  own  ending.  He  gave  the  impression 
that  he  knew  he  had  not  long  to  live.  Charles 
Sumner,  not  prone  to  plunge  into  extravagance  of 
joy  or  grief,  was  deeply  moved  on  one  occasion  by 
Lincoln's  reading  and  re-reading  to  a  little  group 
of  friends  the  familiar  passage  from  Macbeth: 

Duncan  is  in  his  grave ; 

After  life's  fitful  fever  he  sleeps  well; 

Treason  has  done  his  worst;  nor  steel,  nor  poison, 

Malice  domestic,  foreign  levy,  nothing 

Can  touch  him  further. 

With  faith  in  God  ever  growing,  and  the  rich 
experience  of  consolation  it  brought,  we  are  not 
surprised  to  find  Mr.  Lincoln's  interest  in  every 
thing  pertaining  to  Christianity  deepening  and 
widening,  manifesting  itself  in  his  attendance  upon 
public  worship,  in  his  regular  habit  of  prayer,  and 
even  more  in  his  desire  that  the  comforts  and  bless 
ings  of  Christianity  should  be  made  the  privilege 
of  the  Army.  He  even  read  the  Bible  to  the 
coloured  "help"  in  the  White  House.  He  kept  in 
close  touch  and  sympathetic  co-operation  with  the 


326  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Christian  Commission.  His  official  and  personal 
approval  of  the  workings  of  this  charity  was  one  of 
the  greatest  encouragements  to  those  who  were 
actively  engaged  in  it.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Com 
mission  held  early  in  1864,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a 
deeply  interested  spectator,  and  was  particularly 
moved  by  the  remarks  of  Chaplain  C.  C.  McCabe, 
afterward  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Church,  then 
just  released  from  Libby  Prison.  The  Chaplain 
gave  a  graphic  description  of  the  scene  among  the 
prisoners  upon  hearing  the  news  of  the  victory  at 
Gettysburg,  when  they  took  up  Julia  Ward  Howe's 
Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,  beginning  with  the 
lines,  "Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  com 
ing  of  the  Lord,"  and  fairly  made  the  old  prison 
walls  rock  with  the  stirring  melody.  After  the 
Chaplain  had  sung  the  hymn,  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  to 
the  platform  a  request  for  its  repetition.  It  was  a 
song  he  could  appreciate  and  it  stirred  him  like 
a  trumpet  blast. 

Like  the  saints  and  martyrs  of  earlier  Christian 
history,  he  seemed  to  grow  increasingly  dependent 
on  the  consciousness  of  God.  Like  Dwight  L. 
Moody  and  Henry  Clay  Trumbull  he  counted  no 
trouble  too  great  to  take  now  and  then  to  get 
close  to  some  man  he  thought  more  richly  endowed 
than  he  with  spiritual  gifts.  After  one  public 


DISCIPLINED  BY  GRIEF  327 

disaster  almost  too  grievous  to  be  borne,  he  trav 
elled  by  gunboat  from  Washington  to  West  Point. 
Returning  by  way  of  Brooklyn,  he  called  late  Sun 
day  evening  on  Mr.  Beecher,  and  without  send 
ing  in  his  name,  came  muffled  in  a  heavy  dark  cloak 
into  the  room  with  even  his  face  hidden.  Mrs. 
Beecher  was  somewhat  alarmed,  mindful  of  the 
many  threats  which  had  been  made  upon  her 
husband's  life  because  of  his  stout  loyalty  to  Lin 
coln  and  the  Northern  cause.  For  hours  with 
anxious  heart  she  heard  her  husband  and  his 
mysterious  visitor  pacing  the  floor  above  and  talk 
ing  in  low  tones.  She  was  relieved  when  near 
midnight,  still  muffled  in  his  cloak,  the  visitor  left 
the  home.  Not  until  twenty  years  later,  just  be 
fore  his  death,  did  Mr.  Beecher  confide  to  anyone 
that  his  strange  visitor  was  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  so  bowed  with  care,  so  broken  by  the 
sorrows  of  a  nation,  that  he  had  to  have  the  help  of 
one  he  regarded  as  a  spiritual  expert,  whose  words 
and  prayers  would  help  him  to  "carry  on"  and  to 
understand  a  little  better  the  discipline  of  sorrow.  r 

1  Chapman,  Latest  Light  on  Abraham  Lincoln,  p.  535.  This 
story,  sometime  questioned,  has  received  new  confirmation  in  a 
letter,  dated  April  29,  1919,  written  to  the  author  and  certifying 
that  the  President  was  in  New  York  in  conference  with  General 
Scott  the  very  day  he  visited  Mr.  Beecher,  as  reported  by  Mrs. 
Beecher  to  her  grandson,  Mr.  Samuel  Scoville,  Jr. 


328  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

These  and  many  other  incidents  in  the  life  of 
Lincoln  show  that  he  was  ever  learning  from  ex 
perience,  ever  growing  under  the  chastisement  of 
sorrow  in  spiritual  discernment  and  in  personal 
communion  with  God.  The  problems  of  the  war 
itself  assumed  increasingly  a  religious  aspect. 
What  at  first  seemed  to  Mr.  Lincoln  in  part  a 
utilitarian  question  became  so  grave  in  its  far- 
reaching  influence,  so  fundamental  in  its  relation 
to  all  civilization,  that  he  made  it  not  only  the 
subject  of  constant  private  meditation  and  prayer, 
but  upon  one  occasion,  his  heart  became  so  heavy 
beneath  the  crushing  burden  that  he  hinted  that 
he  felt  like  Jesus  in  Gethsemane,  and  falling  on  his 
knees  in  the  presence  of  his  Cabinet,  he  asked  them 
to  join  with  him  in  prayer.  * 

This  increased  devotion  to  God  was  only  the 
completion  of  the  evolution  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  char 
acter.  From  the  day  he  wrote  to  Parson  Elkin, 
urging  him  to  come  and  conduct  the  funeral 
service  for  his  mother,  on  through  his  boyhood  to 
manhood,  then  as  a  lawyer,  as  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  Legislature,  and  of  Congress,  through  the 
exciting  scenes  of  his  political  campaigns,  while 
delivering  addresses  before  Bible  Societies  and 
Sunday  Schools,  and  in  all  the  rapidly  changing 

1  Carpenter  (in  Raymond),  page  735. 


DISCIPLINED  BY  GRIEF  329 

phases  of  his  life,  he  developed  a  growing  sense  of 
dependence  on  God,  and  an  ever-enlarging  Chris 
tian  character  founded  on  the  Rock  of  Ages.  But 
never  must  it  be  forgotten  that  it  was  the  discipline 
of  suffering  in  his  home  circle  and  for  the  millions 
whom  he  loved  as  a  father,  that  stopped  at  last  all 
tendency  to  speculate  or  doubt  and  armed  him 
with  an  irresistible  and  triumphant  faith ! 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

THE    PROCLAMATIONS    OF   A    CHRISTIAN    PRESIDENT 

MR.  LINCOLN'S  many  proclamations  to  the 
people  of  the  Union  appointing  days  for  thanks 
giving  and  prayer  reveal  the  absolute  integrity  of 
his  religious  life.  For  him  to  live  was  God.  He 
harked  back  in  each  national  as  well  as  individual 
emergency  to  God.  "It  is" — as  he  once  said— 
"my  constant  prayer  that  I  and  this  nation  should 
be  on  the  Lord's  side."  His  continuous  depend 
ence  on  God  Lincoln  revealed  in  his  proclamation, 
July  12,  1863,  for  a  day  of  national  thanksgiving: 

It  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  hearken  to  the 
supplications  and  prayers  of  an  afflicted  people,  and  to 
vouchsafe  to  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States 
victories  on  the  land  and  on  the  sea,  so  signal  and  so 
effective  as  to  furnish  reasonable  grounds  for  aug 
mented  confidence  that  the  Union  of  those  States  will 
be  maintained,  their  Constitution  preserved,  and 
their  peace  and  prosperity  permanently  restored.  It  is 
meet  and  right  to  recognize  and  confess  the  presence 
of  the  Almighty  Father  and  the  power  of  His  hand 
equally  in  these  triumphs  and  sorrows 

330 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       331 

Inviting  the  people  to  assemble  on  the  6th  day 
of  August  he  recognized  not  only  God  but  the  Holy 
Spirit  also  in  the  impressive  phrase : 

To  render  the  homage  due  the  Divine  Majesty  for 
the  wonderful  things  done  in  the  Nation's  behalf;  to 
invoke  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  subdue  the 
anger  which  has  produced  and  so  long  sustained  a 
needless  and  cruel  rebellion;  to  change  the  hearts  of 
the  insurgents;  to  guide  the  counsels  of  the  Govern 
ment  with  wisdom  adequate  to  so  great  a  national 
emergency ;  and  to  visit  with  tender  care  and  consola 
tion,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land, 
all  those  who  through  the  vicissitudes  of  marches, 
voyages,  battles,  and  sieges  have  been  brought  to  suf 
fer  in  mind,  body,  or  estate;  and  finally,  to  lead  the 
whole  Nation,  through  the  paths  of  perfect  enjoyment 
of  Union  and  fraternal  peace. 

His  proclamation  of  April,  1861,  elaborated  in 
detail  his  adherence  to  the  Christian  faith  as 
follows : 

It  is  fit  and  becoming  in  all  people  and  at  all  times 
to  acknowledge  and  revere  the  supreme  government 
of  God ;  to  bow  in  humble  submission  to  His  chastise 
ments;  to  confess  and  deplore  their  sins  and  trans 
gressions,  in  the  full  conviction  that  "the  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom";  to  pray  with  all 
fervency  and  contrition  for  pardon  of  their  past 
offences  and  for  a  blessing  upon  present  and  prospec 
tive  action.  When  our  beloved  country,  once  by  the 
blessing  of  God  united,  prosperous  and  happy,  is  now 


332  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

afflicted  with  faction  and  civil  war,  it  is  peculiarly  fit 
for  us  to  recognize  the  hand  of  God  in  this  terrible 
visitation,  and  in  sorrowful  remembrance  of  our  faults 
as  a  nation  and  as  individuals,  to  humble  ourselves 
before  Him  and  to  pray  for  His  mercy,  to  pray  that 
we  may  be  spared  further  punishment,  though  most 
justly  deserved,  that  our  arms  may  be  blessed  and 
made  effectual  for  the  re-establishment  of  law,  order, 
and  peace,  throughout  the  wide  extent  of  our  country, 
and  that  the  inestimable  boon  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  earned  under  His  guidance  and  blessing  by 
the  labours  and  sufferings  of  our  fathers,  may  be 
restored  in  all  its  original  excellence. 

Convinced  that  God  answers  prayer  the 
President  continues: 

In  the  midst  of  a  civil  war  of  unequalled  magnitude 
and  severity,  which  has  sometimes  seemed  to  foreign 
states  to  invite  and  provoke  their  aggressions,  peace 
has  been  preserved  with  all  nations,  order  has  been 
maintained,  the  laws  have  been  respected  and  obeyed 
and  harmony  has  prevailed  everywhere  except  in  the 
theatre  of  military  conflict.  Needful  diversions  of 
wealth  and  strength  from  the  fields  of  peaceful  in 
dustry  to  the  national  defence,  have  not  arrested  the 
plow,  the  shuttle,  or  the  ship.  The  axe  has  enlarged 
the  borders  of  our  settlements,  and  the  mines  as  well 
of  iron  and  of  coal  as  of  the  precious  metals,  have 
yielded  more  abundantly  than  heretofore.  The 
population  has  steadily  increased,  notwithstanding 
the  waste  that  has  been  made  in  the  camp,  the  siege, 
and  the  battlefield.  No  human  counsel  has  devised, 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       333 

nor  hath  mortal  hand  worked  out,  these  great  things. 
They  are  the  generous  gifts  of  the  Most  High  God, 
Who,  while  dealing  with  us  in  anger  for  sins,  hath 
nevertheless  remembered  mercy.  It  has  seemed  to 
me  fit  and  proper  that  they  should  be  solemnly,  rever 
ently,  and  gratefully  acknowledged,  as  with  one  heart 
and  one  voice,  by  the  whole  American  people. 


It  is  not  generally  known  that  Lincoln  national 
ized  the  New  England  observance  of  Thanksgiving 
Day  by  his  proclamation  of  a  National  Thanks 
giving,  followed  yearly  by  every  President  since, 
the  governors  of  the  various  States  regularly 
awaiting  the  President's  proclamation  fixing  the 
date  of  Annual  Thanksgiving,  and  then  issuing 
proclamations  in  conformity  thereto. 

But  whenever  the  occasion  seemed  to  require 
Lincoln  called  his  people  to  their  knees  in  suppli 
cation  or  thanksgiving  as  on  March  30,  1863,  when 
he  announced  a  day  of  National  Prayer  and 
Humiliation,  the  history,  content,  and  spirit  of 
which  are  without  parallel  in  the  Presidential  mes 
sages  of  the  United  States  Government.  This 
message  was  born  of  the  bitter  disappointments 
and  agonies  of  the  dark  days  of  1863,  days  made 
terrible  by  the  crushing  defeat  at  Fredericksburg. 
The  whole  land  was  burdened  with  taxes,  stricken 
with  sorrow,  and  harrowed  by  sentiments  of  trea- 


334  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

son.  The  national  debt  had  grown  until,  on 
February  2,  1863,  the  public  credit  reached  the 
lowest  point  in  our  history.  Many  regiments  in 
the  army  of  the  Potomac  had  not  received  pay  for 
six  months.  Beaten  under  Burnside,  decimated 
and  penniless,  the  army  of  the  Potomac  had  lost 
its  morale  and  six  hundred  desertions  were  re 
ported  daily.  Northern  editors  were  clamouring 
for  peace  at  any  price  and  Greeley,  too  pre 
sumptuous  a  letter-writer,  added  to  the  burdens 
of  the  President  the  irrelevant  note:  "I  venture 
to  remind  you  that  the  bleeding,  bankrupt,  almost 
dying  country  longs  for  peace." 

It  was  in  this  extremity  that  Senator  Harlan  of 
Iowa,  not  resting  simply  on  confession  of  national 
sins  and  shortcomings,  not  expressing  merely  con 
trition  through  conscious  guilt  and  supplication 
before  God  for  pardon,  peace,  and  national  re 
generation,  called  the  Senate  to  the  recognition  of 
Jesus  Christ  Himself  in  the  solemn  resolution 
offered  in  the  Senate  at  the  crucial  moment  and 
adopted  without  a  dissenting  vote: 

RESOLVED,  That,  devoutly  recognizing  the  supreme 
authority  and  just  government  of  Almighty  God  in 
the  affairs  of  men  and  of  Nations,  and  sincerely  be 
lieving  that  no  people,  however  great,  in  numbers 
and  resources,  pr  however  strong  in  the  justice  of  their 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       335 

cause,  can  prosper  without  His  favour,  and  at  the  same 
time  deploring  the  National  offences  which  provoked 
His  righteous  judgment  yet  encouraged,  in  this  day  of 
trouble,  by  the  assurance  of  His  Word,  to  seek  Him 
for  succour  according  to  His  appointed  way,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  do  here 
by  request  the  President  of  the  United  States  by  his 
proclamation  to  designate  and  set  apart  a  day  for 
National  prayer  and  humiliation,  requesting  all  the 
people  of  the  land  to  suspend  their  secular  pursuits 
and  unite  in  keeping  the  day  in  solemn  communion 
with  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  supplicating  Him  to  enlighten 
the  counsels  and  direct  the -policy  of  the  rulers  of  the 
Nations  and  to  support  the  soldiers,  sailors,  and 
marines  and  whole  people  in  the  firm  discharge  of 
duty,  until  the  existing  rebellion  shall  be  overthrown 
and  the  blessing  of  peace  restored  to  our  bleeding 
country. 

Now  we  touch  the  crux  of  the  religious  faith  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Would  he  endorse  a  resolu 
tion  even  though  solemnly  adopted  by  the  Senate, 
confessing  Christ  before  the  world?  In  his  pro 
clamation,  in  response  to  the  resolution  of  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Lincoln  speaks  for  himself : 

WHEREAS,  The  Senate  of  the  United  States,  de 
voutly  recognizing  the  supreme  authority  and  just 
government  of  .Almighty  God  in  all  the  affairs  of  men 
and  Nations,  has  by  a  resolution  requested  the  Presi 
dent  to  designate  and  set  apart  a  day  for  National 
prayer  and  humiliation  and  whereas,  it  is  the  duty  of 


336  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Nations  as  well  as  of  men  to  own  their  dependence 
upon  the  overruling  power  of  God,  to  confess  their 
sins  and  transgression  in  humble  sorrow,  yet  with 
assured  hope  that  genuine  repentance  will  lead  to 
mercy  and  pardon,  and  to  recognize  the  sublime  truth 
announced  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  proven  by  all 
history,  that  "those  Nations  only  are  blessed  whose 
God  is  the  Lord." 

And,  inasmuch  as  we  know  that  by  His  divine  law 
nations  like  individuals,  are  subjected  to  punishment 
and  chastisements  in  this  world,  may  we  not  justly 
fear  that  the  awful  calamity  of  civil  war  which  now 
desolates  the  land  may  be  but  a  punishment  inflicted 
upon  us  for  our  presumptuous  sins  to  the  needful  end 
of  our  National  reformation  as  a  whole  people  ? 

We  have  been  the  recipients  of  the  choicest  bounties 
of  heaven ;  we  have  been  preserved  these  many  years 
in  peace  and  prosperity ;  we  have  grown  in  number, 
wealth,  and  power  as  no  other  Nation  has  ever  grown. 
But  we  have  forgotten  God.  We  have  forgotten  the 
gracious  hand  which  preserved  us  in  peace  and  multi 
plied  and  enriched  and  strengthened  us,  and  we  have 
vainly  imagined,  in  the  deceitfulness  of  our  hearts, 
that  all  these  blessings  were  produced  by  some  superior 
wisdom  and  virtue  of  our  own.  Intoxicated  with  un 
broken  success  we  have  become  too  self-sufficient  to 
feel  the  necessity  of  redeeming  and  preserving  grace, 
too  proud  to  pray  to  the  God  who  made  us. 

It  behooves  us,  then,  to  humble  ourselves  before  the 
offended  power,  to  confess  our  National  sins,  and  to 
pray  for  clemency  and  forgivenesss.  Now,  therefore, 
in  compliance  with  the  request,  and  fully  concurring 
in  the  views  of  the  Senate,  I  do  by  this  my  proclama 
tion  designate  and  set  apart  Thursday  the  3Oth  day  of 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       337 

April,  1863,  as  a  day  of  National  humiliation,  to  ab 
stain  on  that  day  from  their  ordinary  secular  pursuits, 
and  to  unite  in  their  several  places  of  public  worship 
and  devoted  to  the  humble  discharge  of  the  religious 
duties  proper  to  that  solemn  occasion. 

All  this  being  done  in  sincerity  and  truth,  let  us 
then  rest  humbly  in  the  hope  authorized  by  the  divine 
teachings  that  the  united  cry  of  the  Nation  will  be 
heard  on  high  and  answered  with  blessings  no  less  than 
the  pardon  of  our  National  sins  and  the  restoration  of 
our  now  divided  and  suffering  country  to  its  former 
happy  condition  of  unity  and  peace. 

IN  WITNESS  WHEREOF,  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
hand  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be 
affixed. 

Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  3Oth  day  of 
March,  A.D.,  1863,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the 
United  States  the  eighty-seventh. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
By  the  President, 
WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State. 

Slavery  was  rapidly  emerging  out  of  politics 
into  the  realm  of  moral  valuations.  It  was  ceas 
ing  to  be  a  question  for  discussion  and  becoming  an 
ugly  sin  as  Lincoln  long  had  known  and  said.  Now 
the  Senate  was  coming  over  to  his  side,  and  the 
House  was  soon  to  follow.  On  June  9,  1863,  Owen 
Lovejoy,  who  more  than  twenty-five  years  before 
had  witnessed  the  martyrdom  of  his  brother  Elijah, 
offered  in  the  House  a  resolution  denouncing  slav- 


338  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

ery  as  a  crime  and  calling  for  its  abolition.  This 
resolution  was  actually  adopted  by  the  Senate  on 
June  9,  1863,  concurred  in  by  the  House  on  June 
1 7th,  and  signed  by  the  President  on  June  1 9th.  At 
last  a  penitent  Republic  had  set  itself  right  before 
God.  All  this  had  taken  place  in  less  than  three 
short  months  and  the  North  had  now  won  the  moral 
victory.  Only  the  victory  at  arms  remained  for 
it  to  win. 

Dark  days  followed  before  Gettysburg  and 
Vicksburg  came  to  confirm  the  judgment  of  Exe 
cutive  and  Legislature  that  they  were  now  on 
God's  side,  but  Lincoln,  with  the  majestic  confi 
dence  of  one  who  had  never  doubted  the  outcome, 
announced  on  July  4,  1863,  the  victory  at  Gettys 
burg  with  the  expressed  desire  that  "on  this  day 
He  whose  will,  not  ours,  should  ever  be  done,  be 
everywhere  remembered  with  profoundest  grati 
tude.  ' '  Not  of  him  could  it  be  said  as  of  the  lepers 
healed  in  the  New  Testament  and  forgetful  to  be 
grateful:  "Were  there  not  ten  cleansed?  but  where 
are  the  nine?" 

Lincoln's  proclamations  were  pervaded  with  a 
tone  of  sincerity,  of  trust,  of  confidence,  of  prayer 
ful  dependence  that  never  faltered,  even  when  the 
clouds  of  discouragement  rolled  blackest.  With 
all  the  intensity  of  a  prophet's  soul,  he  declared 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       339 

his  faith  in  the  divinity  that  shapes  the  course  and 
destiny  of  nations  in  accordance  with  the  unseen 
laws  that  rule  the  world.  "No  human  hand  hath 
devised,  nor  hath  mortal  hand  worked  out  these 
things,"  he  said. 

He  attributed  to  God's  goodness  every  gain  the 
nation  made,  and  it  made  many  a  gain  during 
those  four  years  in  population,  wealth,  and  power. 
When  the  nation's  suffering  in  men,  money,  and 
prosperity  in  a  war  of  unequalled  magnitude  is 
taken  into  account,  it  may  well  be  questioned  if  a 
like  experience  has  occurred  in  the  history  of  any 
nation.  To  other  nations  recuperation  has  usually 
come  after  war,  not  during  war.  France  after  the 
Franco-Prussian  War  and  Belgium  after  the  World 
War  are  illustrations.  It  is  stranger  than  fiction, 
it  is  in  fact  a  providence,  that  growth  and  increase 
seemed  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  enormous 
sacrifice  of  the  national  resources,  which  the  Civil 
War  exacted.  The  loyal  States  had  lost  more  men , 
spent  more  money,  and  drawn  far  more  heavily 
upon  their  material  resources  than  the  Southern 
States,  and  yet  their  aggregate  possessions  in  all 
that  makes  a  people  rich  and  powerful  were  actu 
ally  increased  at  the  close  rather  than  at  the  be 
ginning  of  the  titanic  struggle,  while  exhaustion 
overtook  the  South  long  before  Appomattox. 


340  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

As  early  as  1863  Lincoln  foresaw  this  and  with 
characteristic  spiritual  insight  attributed  it  to  the 
favour  of  Almighty  God.  His  deep  spirit  of  thank 
fulness  to  God  found  an  echo  in  the  hearts  of  his 
loyal  people  and  inspired  in  them  the  courage  to 
continue  the  struggle  to  a  successful  issue.  Even 
in  the  darkest  days  when  men  like  Greeley  and 
McClellan  were  for  making  peace  with  recognition 
of  the  independence  of  the  South,  Lincoln  carried 
with  him  the  great  masses  because  he  lived  a  life 
of  prayer,  he  depended  upon  God,  and  embraced 
every  proper  occasion  to  call  upon  the  people  to 
unite  in  thanksgiving  to  the  Almighty,  whose 
protecting  arms  were  thrown  around  the  im 
perilled  nation.  On  December  7,  1863,  he  said: 

Reliable  information  being  received  that  the  in 
surgent  force  is  retreating  from  East  Tennessee,  under 
circumstances  rendering  it  probable  that  the  Union 
forces  cannot  hereafter  be  dislodged  from  that  im 
portant  position;  and  esteeming  this  to  be  of  high 
national  consequences,  I  recommend  that  all  loyal 
people  do,  on  receipt  of  this  information,  assemble  at 
their  places  of  worship  and  render  special  homage  and 
gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  this  great  advancement 
of  the  National  cause. 

On  May  9,  1864,  when  General  Grant  was  ham 
mering  Lee's  army  hard,  and  immediately  follow- 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       341 

ing  the  bloody  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  in  which 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  fully  demonstrated  the 
ability  to  fight  under  a  commander  who  would 
fight,  Lincoln  issued  the  following : 

To  the  friends  of  Union  and  Liberty;  Enough  is 
known  of  army  operations  within  the  last  five  days,  to 
claim  a  special  gratitude  to  God,  while  what  remains 
undone  demands  our  most  sincere  prayer  to  and  re 
liance  upon  Him  without  Whom  all  our  efforts  is  in 
vain,  I  recommend  that  all  patriots  at  their  homes,  in 
their  place  of  public  worship,  and  wherever  they  may 
be,  unite  in  common  thanksgiving  and  prayer  to 
Almighty  God. 

The  prayers  of  Lincoln  and  the  loyal  people 
were  needed,  for  although  Grant  never  let  go  his 
bulldog  grip  upon  the  throat  of  the  rebellion,  there 
was  still  much  fighting  to  be  done  and  numberless 
sacrifices  to  be  made.  President  Lincoln  watched 
the  struggle  with  great  anxiety,  but  with  his  usual 
patient  reliance  on  the  will  of  God  Who,  he  fully 
believed,  was  keeping  watch  over  the  Republic 
and  holding  its  destiny  in  the  hollow  of  His  hand. 

On  July  7,  1864,  the  President  in  response  to  a 
concurrent  resolution  of  Congress,  issued  a  pro 
clamation  appointing  a  day  of  humiliation  and 
prayer.  Grant  was  fighting  it  out  on  the  line  he 
had  chosen,  and  it  was  indeed  taking  all  summer. 


342  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

The  Union  losses  were  appalling,  and  while  neither 
the  President  nor  General  Grant  ever  lost  confid 
ence,  the  day  seemed  dark  and  the  issue  doubtful. 
Lincoln,  by  his  proclamation,  requested  his  con 
stitutional  advisers,  the  members  of  Congress,  all 
soldiers,  sailors,  and  marines,  with  all  loyal  and 
law-abiding  people,  at  their  usual  places  of  worship 
or  wherever  they  might  be — 

To  confess  and  repent  of  their  manifold  sins,  to  im 
plore  the  compassion  and  forgiveness  of  the  Almighty, 
that,  if  consistent  with  His  will,  the  existing  rebellion 
may  be  speedily  suppressed  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  be  estab 
lished  throughout  all  the  States;  to  implore  Him,  as 
the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  world,  not  to  destroy  us  as  a 
people  nor  suffer  us  to  be  destroyed  by  the  hostility  or 
connivance  of  other  nations,  or  by  obstinate  adhesion 
to  our  own  counsels,  which  may  be  in  conflict  with 
His  eternal  purposes,  and  to  implore  Him  to  enlighten 
the  mind  of  the  nation  to  know  and  do  His  will,  hum 
bly  believing  that  it  is  in  accordance  with  his  will  that 
our  people  should  be  maintained  as  a  united  people 
among  the  family  of  nations ;  to  implore  Him  to  grant 
to  our  armed  defenders  and  the  masses  of  the  people 
that  courage,  power  of  resistance,  and  endurance 
necessary  to  secure  that  result ;  to  implore  Him  in  His 
infinite  goodness  to  soften  the  hearts,  enlighten  the 
minds  and  quicken  the  consciences  of  those  in  rebel 
lion,  that  they  may  lay  down  their  arms  and  speedily 
return  to  their  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  that 
they  may  not  be  utterly  destroyed,  that  the  effusion 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       343 

of  blood  may  be  stayed,  and  that  unity  and  fraternity 
may  be  restored  and  peace  and  fraternity  established 
throughout  all  our  borders. 

This  was  actually  the  language  of  the  joint  reso 
lution  passed  by  Congress  but  the  President  readily 
and  gladly  adopted  it  as  his  own,  and  appointed 
the  first  Thursday  of  the  following  month  to  be 
observed  as  a  day  of  humiliation  and  prayer. 
Nine  months  and  two  days  from  the  date  of  this 
proclamation  every  petition  therein  contained 
was  answered.  By  the  surrender  of  General  Lee 
and  his  army,  peace  was  restored,  the  Union  pre 
served,  and  the  insurgents  saved  from  the  "utter 
destruction"  from  which  Lincoln  prayed  they 
might  be  spared. 

Lincoln  issued  another  proclamation  on  Septem 
ber  3,  1864,  recommending  thanksgiving  for  the 

Signal  success  that  Divine  Providence  has  recently 
vouchsafed  to  the  portions  of  the  United  States  fleet 
and  army  in  the  harbour  of  Mobile,  and  the  reduction 
of  Fort  Powell,  Fort  Gains,  and  Fort  Morgan,  and  the 
glorious  achievements  of  the  army  under  Major 
Sherman  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  resulting  in  the 
capture  of  the  city  of  Atlanta. 

In  his  annual  Thanksgiving  Proclamation, 
dated  October  20,  1864,  the  President  said : 


344  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

It  has  pleased  God  Almighty  to  prolong  our  life 
another  year,  defending  us  with  His  guardian  care 
against  unfriendly  desires  from  abroad,  and  vouch 
safing  to  us  in  His  mercy  many  and  signal  victories 
over  the  enemy  who  is  of  our  own  household.  It  has 
pleased  our  Heavenly  Father  to  favour  as  well  our 
citizens  in  their  homes  as  our  soldiers  in  their  camps 
and  our  sailors  on  the  rivers  and  seas,  with  unusual 
health.  He  has  largely  augmented  our  free  popula 
tion  by  emancipation  and  by  immigration,  while  He 
has  opened  to  us  new  sources  of  wealth,  and  crowned 
the  labour  of  our  working-men  in  every  department  of 
industry,  with  abundant  rewards.  Moreover,  He  has 
been  pleased  to  animate  and  inspire  our  minds  and 
hearts  with  fortitude,  courage,  and  resolution  sufficient 
for  the  great  trial  of  civil  war  into  which  we  have 
been  brought,  by  our  adherence  as  a  nation  to  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  humanity,  and  to  afford  us 
reasonable  hopes  of  an  ultimate  and  happy  deliverance 
from  all  our  dangers  and  afflictions. 

The  numerous  proclamations  Lincoln  issued 
realized  their  highest  point  in  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  even  though  it  was  by  no  means  his 
last  or  even  his  most  avowedly  religious.  It  be 
longs  among  those  few  State  papers  like  Magna 
Charta  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
which  for  a  blending  of  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  meaning  will  be  remembered  when  others 
are  forgotten. 

Years  before  he  became  President,  Lincoln  was 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       345 

convinced  that  slavery  was  a  moral  not  a  mere 
political  issue.  He  was  still  a  young  man  when  he 
determined,  if  the  opportunity  ever  came,  to  hit 
it  hard.  He  sacrificed  his  chance  to  be  Senator 
of  the  United  States  when  in  his  debates  with 
Douglas  he  convinced  his  hearers  that  slavery  was 
not  after  all  debatable,  because  it  was  a  moral 
wrong.  But  he  took  the  oath  of  office  as  President 
pledged  not  either  to  maintain  or  to  destroy  slav 
ery  but  to  preserve  the  Union.  While  others 
missed  the  issue  he  singled  it  out  and  held  firmly 
to  it  amid  all  the  babel  of  discordant  voices,  and 
even  went  so  far  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  adminis 
tration  as  to  insist  that  he  had  no  right  at  that 
time  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States  where 
it  was,  by  law,  established. 

His  words  to  Greeley  cannot  be  kept  out  of  mind 
in  understanding  his  sincerity  in  dealing  with  the 
matter : ' '  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  coloured 
race  I  do  because  it  helps  to  save  the  Union:  and 
what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  believe 
it  would  help  to  save  the  Union."  And  yet  with 
a  foresight  almost  supernatural  he  foresaw  that 
slavery  would  ultimately  have  to  go  and  long  be 
fore  had  said :  ' '  I  believe  the  time  will  come  when 
the  sun  will  shine,  the  rain  fall,  on  no  man  who 
goes  forth  to  unrequited  toil.  When  that  time 


346  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

will  come,  how  it  will  come,  I  do  not  know,  but 
that  time  will  surely  come." 

For  its  coming  he  was  ever  watching.  While 
the  war  was  still  young  he  began  evidently  to  sus 
pect  that  the  salvation  of  the  Union  would  prove 
to  be  bound  up  with  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves.  But  he  was  not  the  man  to  be  hurried  by 
the  unthinking  prematurely  into  action.  Nothing 
more  definitely  proves  his  perfect  understanding 
of  the  complexity  of  his  problem  than  his  recorded 
interviews  with  those  who  saw  but  one  side  of  the 
question  or  whose  minds  proved  to  be  single-track. 

On  the  1 3th  of  September,  1862,  in  reply  to  a 
delegation  of  Chicago  clergymen  who  sought  to 
convince  Lincoln  that  the  disasters  the  Union 
Army  had  recently  suffered  were  tokens  of  God's 
displeasure  at  his  failure  to  proclaim  the  freedom 
of  the  slaves,  he  said  sarcastically  that  if  it  was 
probable  that  God  would  reveal  His  will  to  others 
on  a  point  so  intimately  connected  with  the  Presi 
dent's  duty,  it  might  be  supposed  that  He  would 
reveal  it  to  the  President  himself;  and  that  it  was 
a  little  strange  that  if  the  Lord  had  a  special  com 
munication  for  him,  He  would  send  it  way  round 
through  the  wicked  city  of  Chicago.  However, 
before  he  dismissed  the  delegation,  he  assured 
the  clergymen  that  he  had  the  matter  under  con- 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       347 

sideration,  thanked  them  for  the  suggestions  they 
had  made,  and  expressed  the  hope  that  nothing  he 
had  said  had  hurt  their  feelings.  He  also  told 
them  that  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  for  the  action 
they  urged,  and  that  to  "issue  a  document  that  the 
world  would  see  must  necessarily  be  inoperative 
would  be  like  the  Pope's  bull  against  the  comet." 
To  another  delegation  of  ministers  determined 
to  hasten  his  action  he  said : 

Gentlemen,  suppose  all  the  property  you  possessed 
were  in  gold,  and  you  had  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  a 
Blondin  to  carry  across  the  Niagara  River  on  a  rope. 
With  slow,  cautious,  steady  steps  he  walks  the  rope, 
bearing  your  all.  Would  you  shake  the  cable  and 
keep  shouting  at  him;  "Blondin,  stand  up  a  little 
straighter;  Blondin,  stoop  a  little  more;  go  a  little 
faster ;  lean  more  to  the  south ;  now  lean  a  little  more  to 
the  north?"  Would  that  be  your  behaviour  in  such 
an  emergency?  No,  you  would  hold  your  breath 
every  one  of  you,  as  well  as  your  tongues.  You  would 
keep  your  hands  off  until  he  was  safe  on  the  other  side. 
This  Government,  gentlemen,  is  carrying  an  immense 
weight.  Untold  treasures  are  in  its  hands.  The 
persons  managing  the  ship  of  state  in  this  storm  are 
doing  the  best  they  can.  Don't  worry  them  with 
needless  warnings  and  complaints.  Keep  silence;  be 
patient,  and  we  will  get  you  safe  across. 

The  hour  struck  at  last,  and  he  was  ready  for  it. 
In  fact  Emancipation  had  been  definitely  decided 


348  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

weeks  before  Antietam  was  fought.  Lee's  army 
was  driven  back  across  the  Potomac  from  Mary 
land  into  Virginia.  Immediately  following  this 
victory  Mr.  Lincoln  summoned  his  Cabinet  to  the 
usual  meeting-place.  "Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "I 
want  your  attention."  He  laid  the  historic  paper 
down  upon  the  table.  To  what  he  then  remarked 
to  them  they  all  felt  it  would  be  futile  to  object. 
'' Gentlemen,"  he  declared,  "I  do  not  want  your 
advice  as  to  whether  I  shall  issue  this  document  or 
not,  for  that  I  have  determined  myself.  If  you 
have  suggestions  concerning  minor  points,  when 
you  have  heard  it  read,  I  will  hear  them."  He 
then  added  in  a  lower  tone  of  voice:  "I  have  not 
consulted  any  one;  I  promised  myself,  I  told  the 
Lord." 

Secretary  Seward  turned  to  Lincoln  and  asked: 
' '  What  did  I  hear  you  say  ? ' '  Mr.  Lincoln  faced 
full  upon  the  Secretary  and  replied:  "Secretary 
Seward,  I  told  the  Lord  that  if  He  would  drive  the 
rebels  out  of  Maryland,  I  would  emancipate  the 
slaves,  and  I  will  do  it." 

The  effect  of  the  proclamation  was  both  more 
firmly  to  consolidate  the  South,  and  to  create  some 
division  among  the  Unionists  of  the  border  States 
and  among  the  conservatives  of  the  North.  But 
it  also  crystallized  about  the  President  all  the 


CHRISTIAN  PROCLAMATIONS       349 

forces  that  made  for  victory  and  intensified  their 
purpose  to  continue  the  war  to  a  successful  issue. 
What  the  administration  lost  in  numerical  support 
was  more  than  compensated  by  the  new  flame  of 
spiritual  enthusiasm,  which  burned  with  a  steadily 
increasing  fervour  to  the  very  end  of  the  struggle. 
No  wonder  Lincoln  said : ' '  God  bless  the  churches." 
He  now  had  them  all  with  him.  He  had  at  last 
killed  slavery  without  violation  of  his  oath  of 
office  to  maintain  the  Union. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

INSPIRED   UTTERANCES 

PROOF  of  the  strong  vein  of  piety  that  ran  like  a 
golden  thread  through  Lincoln's  nature  abounds 
in  the  utterances  made  during  the  last  few  years  of 
his  life.  All  through  his  trying  experiences  he  was 
pondering  the  problem  of  the  mysterious  ways  of 
the  Almighty  in  dealing  with  human  affairs.  In 
1862  he  wrote  down  on  a  slip  of  paper  som2  of  his 
musings : 

The  will  of  God  prevails.  In  great  contests,  each 
party  claims  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  will  of 
God.  Both  may  be,  and  one  must  be,  wrong.  God 
cannot  be  for  and  against  the  same  thing  at  the 
same  time.  In  the  present  Civil  War,  it  is  quite  pos 
sible  that  God's  purpose  is  something  different  from 
the  purpose  of  either  party,  and  yet  human  instru 
mentalities  working  just  as  they  do  are  of  the  best 
adaptation  to  effect  His  purpose.  I  am  almost  ready 
to  say  that  this  is  probably  true,  that  God  wills  this 
contest,  and  wills  that  it  shall  not  end  yet.  By  His 
mere  great  power  on  the  minds  of  the  now  contestants 
He  could  have  either  saved  or  destroyed  the  Union, 
without  a  human  contest;  yet  the  contest  began,  and 


INSPIRED  UTTERANCES  351 

having  begun,   He  could  give  the  final  victory  to 
either  side  any  day,  yet  the  contest  proceeds. 

One  of  Lincoln's  biographers  says: 

As  time  went  on,  and  his  conviction  that  his  cause 
was  right  grew  stronger,  in  spite  of  the  reverses  he 
suffered,  he  began  to  feel  that  God's  purpose  was  to 
wipe  out  slavery,  and  that  war  was  a  divine  retribution 
on  North  as  well  as  South,  for  the  toleration  of  slavery. 

In  a  letter  dated  April,  1864,  Lincoln  wrote: 

At  the  end  of  three  years'  struggle,  the  Nation's 
condition  is  not  what  either  party  saw  or  any  one  ex 
pected.  God  alone  can  claim  it.  Whither  it  is  tend 
ing  seems  plain.  If  God  now  wills  the  removal  of  a 
great  wrong,  and  wills  also  that  we  of  the  North  as 
well  as  you  of  the  South  shall  pay  for  our  complicity 
in  that  wrong,  impartial  history  will  find  therein  new 
cause  to  attest  and  revere  the  justice  and  wisdom  of 
God. 

It  is  not  strange  that  with  such  a  habit  of  mind 
Abraham  Lincoln  came  at  last  into  a  full  recogni 
tion  of  spiritual  truth  in  all  its  phases  and  practi 
cal  application.  Proof  of  his  growing  appreciation 
of  Christian  ideas  and  institutions  is  found  in  his 
manifest  desire  to  secure  the  proper  observance  of 
the  Sabbath,  so  far  as  war  conditions  would  permit. 
On  his  visits  to  the  various  commands  he  had 
been  pained  to  see  that  Sunday  was  scantily  ob- 


352  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

served  by  the  men  in  camp,  while  much  profanity 
was  indulged  in  by  the,  men  and  officers.  These 
observations  led  him  to  issue  the  following 
remarkable  order: 

The  importance  for  men  and  beasts  of  the  prescribed 
weeky  rest,  the  sacred  rights  of  Christian  soldiers  and 
sailors,  a  becoming  deference  to  the  best  sentiment  of  a 
Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for  the  Divine  Will, 
demand  that  Sunday  labour  in  the  Army  and  Navy  be 
reduced  to  the  measure  of  strict  necessity.  The  dis 
cipline  and  character  of  the  national  forces  should  not 
suffer,  nor  the  cause  they  defend  be  imperilled  by  the 
profanation  of  the  day  or  the  name  of  the  Most  High. 

Lincoln  went  so  far  as  to  admonish  a  certain 
general  who  was  addicted  to  the  habit  of  profanity 
to  abandon  the  habit  himself  and  to  use  his  au 
thority  to  discourage  it  among  the  soldiers.  Thus 
the  Christian  type  of  Lincoln's  character  was  in 
creasingly  manifest.  He  had  in  his  heart  the  fire 
of  a  reformer  and  a  martyr,  the  mysticism  of  a 
prophet,  the  vision  of  an  enthusiast,  and  the  solemn 
sense  of  duty  characteristic  of  the  devotee.  Of 
him  it  has  well  been  said : 

To  a  hope  which  saw  the  delectable  mountian  of  abso 
lute  justice  and  peace  in  the  future,  to  a  faith  that  God 
in  His  own  time  would  give  to  all  men  the  things  con 
venient  to  them,  he  added  a  charity  which  embraced 


INSPIRED  UTTERANCES  353 

in  its  deep  bosom  all  the  good  and  bad,  all  the  virtues 
and  infirmities  of  men,  and  a  patience  like  that  of 
nature,  which,  in  its  vast  and  fruitful  activity,  knows 
neither  haste  nor  rest.  A  character  like  this  is  among 
the  precious  heirlooms  of  the  Republic,  and  by  a 
special  good  fortune  every  part  of  the  country  has  an 
equal  claim  and  pride  in  it. 


In  1864,  after  Lincoln  had  been  elected  to  a 
second  term  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  in  spite 
of  the  organized  opposition  in  the  North  to  the 
conduct  of  the  war,  and  despite  the  call  for  500,000 
men  to  fill  up  the  depleted  ranks  of  the  armies 
which  some  of  his  friends  had  vainly  besought  him 
to  postpone  until  after  the  election,  he  said  to  a 
party  that  came  to  congratulate  him  on  his  vic 
tory:  "If  I  know  my  own  heart,  my  gratitude  is 
free  from  any  taint  of  personal  triumph.  I  do  not 
impugn  the  motives  of  any  one  who  opposed  me. 
It  is  no  pleasure  to  me  to  trample  over  any  one. 
But  I  give  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  this  evi 
dence  of  the  people's  resolution  to  stand  by  free 
government  and  the  rights  of  humanity." 

To  the  congratulations  of  a  personal  friend,  he 
replied : 

"I  should  be  the  veriest  shallow  and  self -con 
ceited  blockhead  upon  the  footstool,  in  my  dis 
charge  of  the  duties  that  are  put  upon  me  in  this 


354  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

place,  if  I  should  hope  to  get  along  without  the 
wisdom  that  comes  from  God  and  not  from  man." 
In     his    second     Inaugural    Address — another 
masterpiece  of  literature — he  said  : 


On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this,  four  years 
ago,  our  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  im 
pending  Civil  War.  All  dreaded  it ;  all  sought  to  avert 
it.  While  the  inaugural  address  was  being  delivered 
from  this  place,  devoted  altogether  to  saving  the  Union 
without  war,  insurgent  agents  were  in  the  city  seek 
ing  to  destroy  it  without  war,  seeking  to  dissolve 
the  Union  and  divide  effects  by  negotiation.  Both 
parties  deprecated  war,  but  one  of  them  would  make 
war,  rather  than  let  the  Union  survive,  and  the  other 
would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish,  and  the 
war  came.  One  eighth  of  the  \\  hole  population  were 
coloured  slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over  the 
whole  Union,  but  localized  in  the  Southern  part  of  it. 
These  slaves  constituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful 
interest.  All  knew  that  this  interest  was  somehow 
the  cause  of  the  war.  To  strengthen,  perpetuate,  and 
extend  this  interest  was  the  object  for  which  the  in 
surgents  would  rend  the  Union,  even  by  war;  while 
the  government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more  than  re 
strict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it.  Neither  party 
expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude  or  the  duration 
which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither  anticipated 
the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease  with,  or  even 
before  the  conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked  for 
an  easier  triumph  and  a  result  less  fundamental  and 
astounding.  Both  read  the  same  Bible  and  prayed  to 


INSPIRED  UTTERANCES  355 

the  same  God,  and  each  invoked  His  aid  against  the 
other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any  man  should 
ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  his  bread 
from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces,  but  let  us  "judge 
not  that  we  be  not  judged."  The  prayers  of  both 
could  not  be  answered.  That  of  neither  has  been 
answered  fully.  The  Almighty  has  His  own  purposes. 
"Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offences,  for  it  needs 
be  that  offences  come,  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom 
the  offence  cometh."  If  we  suppose  that  American 
Slavery  is  one  of  these  offences  which  in  the  Provi 
dence  of  God  must  come,  but  which  having  continued 
through  His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  remove, 
and  that  He  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  ter 
rible  war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offence 
came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure  from 
those  divine  attributes  which  the  believers  in  a  living 
God  always  ascribe  to  Him  ?  Fondly  do  we  hope  and 
fervently  do  we  pray  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war 
may  speedily  pass  away ;  yet  if  God  wills  that  it  con 
tinue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  up  by  the  bondman's  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  sink,  and 
until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  by  the  lash  shall  be  paid 
by  another  drawn  by  the  sword,  as  was  said  three 
thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  "The 
judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  alto 
gether."  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity 
for  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to 
see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are 
now  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care  for 
him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow 
and  orphan,  co  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish 
a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all 
nations. 


356  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

Marvellous  revelation  of  inspired  utterance! 
No  wonder  the  French  minister  said:  "No  such 
document  as  that  ever  before  came  to  the  French 
Court."  How  impersonal,  how  impartial,  how 
balanced  in  its  judgments,  how  charitable,  how 
lofty  in  its  inspiration  this  remarkable  document, 
breathing  the  spirit  of  Holy  Writ  itself!  It  was 
addressed  to  the  whole  Nation,  and  not  only  to 
this  Nation,  but  to  the  world.  In  it  we  see  the  clear 
reflection  of  Lincoln's  religious  faith,  his  broad 
charity,  his  magnanimity,  his  unquestioning  sub 
mission  to  the  Divine  Will,  his  implicit  belief  in  the 
righteousness  of  his  cause,  his  assent  to  the  justice 
of  retribution  exacted  for  the  sins  of  which  all  the 
people  were  directly  or  indirectly  guilty,  and  his 
sublime  confidence  that  in  the  final  arbitrament, 
the  Lord  of  all  the  earth  would  do  right. 

An  eminent  French  ecclesiastic,  Monseigneur 
Du  Pannoup,  Bishop  of  Orleans,  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend,  thanking  him  for  a  copy  of  the  address 
characterized  it  as  "a  beautiful  page  of  the  history 
of  a  great  people, ' '  and  said  that  he  read  it  with 
the  most  religious  emotion  and  sympathetic 
admiration. 


Mr.  Lincoln  [he  added]  expresses  with  solemn  and 
touching  seriousness  the  sentiments  of,  I  am  certain, 


INSPIRED  UTTERANCES  357 

the  noble  and  best  souls  of  the  North  as  well  as  the 
South.  What  a  beautiful  day,  when  there  will  be  a 
union  of  these  souls  in  the  true  and  perfect  light  of  the 
Gospel,  but  what  a  beautiful  day  we  behold  already 
when  the  twice-elected  chief  of  a  great  nation  strikes  a 
lofty  Christian  note  too  much  absent  in  Europe,  and 
in  official  language  befitting  large  affairs,  announces 
the  end  of  slavery  and  prepares  the  way  for  the  tri 
umph  of  justice  and  mercy  in  the  very  spirit  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures. 

But  it  remained  for  Walt  Whitman  to  pay  per 
haps  the  most  memorable  tribute  yet  on  record  to 
the  mingling  of  the  intellectual  and  the  spiritual  in 
Lincoln.  He  wrote: 

One  of  the  best  of  the  commentators  of  Shakespeare 
makes  the  height  and  aggregate  of  his  quality  as  a 
poet  to  be  that  he  thoroughly  blended  the  ideal  with 
the  practical  or  realistic.  If  this  be  so,  I  should  say 
that  what  Shakespeare  did  in  poetic  expression, 
Abraham  Lincoln  essentially  did  in  his  personal  and 
official  life.  I  should  say  that  the  invisible  founda 
tions  and  vertebrae  of  his  character,  more  than  any 
man's  in  history,  were  mystic,  abstract,  moral,  and 
spiritual.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  indomita 
ble  firmness  on  rare  occasions,  involving  great  points : 
but  he  was  generally  very  easy,  flexible,  tolerant, 
respecting  minor  matters.  As  to  his  religious  nature, 
it  seems  to  me  to  have  certainly  been  of  the  amplest, 
deepest-rooted  kind. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 
LINCOLN'S  CHRISTIAN  VIEW  OF  LABOUR 

WHEN  Lincoln  was  beating  out  the  music  of  a 
soul  as  just  as  it  was  kind,  there  was  no  labour 
problem  such  as  confronts  us  today.  There  was  at 
most  an  isolated  and  grotesque  aberration  of  the 
problem  furnished  by  the  fact  of  slavery  which  had 
become  so  ingrained  in  legality  as  to  blind  most 
people  to  its  awful  immorality. 

Lincoln  was  the  first  American  to  set  himself  to 
disentangle  the  wrong  of  slavery  from  the  status 
given  it  by  history  and  legislation.  He  believed 
slavery  an  insult  to  the  soul  of  man  and  to  the 
heart  of  God.  He  said  if  slavery  was  not  wrong, 
nothing  was  wrong.  He  regarded  it  not  merely  as 
unchristian  but  also  as  an  inescapable  menace  to 
American  democracy.  "This  nation  cannot  re 
main  half  slave  and  half  free,"  "A  house  di 
vided  against  itself  cannot  stand,"  were  his  very 
words.  While  others  were  seeking  the  way  out 
by  compromise  and  concession,  Lincoln  though 
putting  paramount  the  preservation  of  the  Union 

358 


CHRISTIAN  VIEW  OF  LABOUR     359 

was  making  ready  for  the  time  to  come — as  come 
he  knew  it  would  for  the  redemption  of  the  promise 
made  to  himself  long  years  before  in  the  slave 
market  at  New  Orleans  to  "hit  that  thing  hard." 
Yet  as  one  looks  back  on  Lincoln's  record  and 
his  writings,  the  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  al 
most  from  the  first  he  saw  slavery  as  but  one 
aspect  of  the  labour  problem  and  applied  to  it  the 
same  fundamental  principles  of  Christianity  by 
which  labour  at  all  times  must  be  tested.  These 
words  from  a  speech  which  he  delivered  in  1847 
are  as  true  today  as  when  they  first  were  spoken : 

In  the  early  days  of  our  race  the  Almighty  said  to 
the  first  of  our  race,  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt 
thou  eat  bread,"  and  since  then  if  we  except  the  light 
and  air  of  Heaven,  no  good  thing  has  been  or  can  be 
enjoyed  by  us  without  having  first  cost  labour.  And 
inasmuch  as  most  good  things  are  produced  by  labour, 
it  follows  that  all  such  things  of  right  belong  to  those 
whose  labours  have  produced  them.  But  it  has  so 
happened  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  that  some  have 
laboured,  and  others  have,  without  labour,  enjoyed  a 
large  proportion  of  the  fruits.  This  is  wrong  and 
should  not  continue.  To  secure  to  each  labourer  the 
whole  product  of  his  labour,  or  as  nearly  as  possible, 
is  a  worthy  object  of  any  good  government. 

Here  is  a  concise  declaration  of  essentials. 
Labour  is  the  law  of  life.  The  labourer  is  worthy 


36o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

of  his  hire  and  is  entitled  to  the  product  of  his  toil. 
Slavery  aroused  Lincoln's  indignation  because  it 
violated  this  first  principle.  It  allowed  some  to 
live  on  the  toil  of  others.  ' ' It  may  seem  strange," 
he  declares,  "that  any  man  should  dare  to  ask  a 
just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  bread  from  the 
sweat  of  other  men's  faces." 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Ide  and  others,  in  1864,  he 
gives  more  elaborate  utterance  to  this  thought: 

To  read  in  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God  Himself, 
that  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  thou  shalt  eat  bread," 
and  to  preach  there  from  that  "In  the  sweat  of  other 
men's  faces  shalt  thou  eat  bread"  to  my  mind  can 
scarce  be  reconciled  with  honest  sincerity.  When 
brought  to  my  final  reckoning,  may  I  have  to  answer 
for  robbing  no  man  of  his  goods;  yet  more  tolerable 
even  this,  than  for  robbing  one  of  himself  and  all  that 
was  his.  When  a  year  or  two  ago  those  professedly 
holy  men  of  the  South  met  in  the  semblance  of  prayer 
and  devotion,  and  in  the  name  of  Him  Who  said,  "As 
ye  would  all  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so 
unto  them,"  appealed  to  the  Christian  world  to  aid 
them  in  doing  to  a  whole  race  of  men  as  they  would 
have  no  man  do  unto  themselves,  to  my  thinking, 
they  condemned  and  insulted  God  and  His  church 
far  more  than  Satan  did  when  he  tempted  the  Saviour 
with  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  The  devil's  attempt  was 
no  more  false  and  far  less  hypocritical. 

Here  Lincoln  indicates  the  principle  that  he 
would  have  applied  to  the  solution  of  economic 


CHRISTIAN  VIEW  OF  LABOUR     361 

problems;  namely,  "As  ye  would  all  men  should 
do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them,"  thus  sub 
stituting  the  Golden  Rule  for  the  rule  of  gold,  the 
only  guarantee  of  industrial  tranquillity. 

Lincoln  never  dodged  an  issue.  To  him  it  was 
evident  that  Christianity  and  slavery  were  con 
tradictory.  One  had  to  perish.  In  Cincinnati  in 
1859,  he  said: 

Our  government  was  not  established  that  one  man 
might  do  with  himself  as  he  pleased,  and  with  another 
man,  too.  I  hold  that  if  there  is  any  one  thing  that 
can  be  proved  to  be  the  will  of  Heaven  by  external 
nature  around  us,  without  reference  to  Revelation,  it 
is  the  proposition  that  whatever  any  one  man  earns 
with  his  hands  and  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  he  shall 
enjoy  in  peace. 

From  this  clear  view  of  the  necessity  of  labour 
and  the  right  of  the  individual  to  enjoy  what  he 
earned  by  labour  Lincoln  moved  logically  and 
steadily  along  to  appreciation  of  the  capitalistic 
system  of  industry  which  unmistakably  excludes 
slavery.  Capital  and  slavery  could  not  live  long 
side  by  side.  As  the  capitalistic  method  of  in 
dustry  developed,  the  planter  found  himself  more 
and  more  threatened  by  an  agency  of  industry 
which  he  could  not  use.  Industrial  leaders  every 
where,  except  in  the  South,  were  using  the  most 


362  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

modern  appliances,  increasing  masses  of  capital 
and  encouraging  the  development  of  skilled  free 
labour.  The  planter  was  in  slavery  using  an  in 
strument  as  ancient  as  man.  In  the  fields  of 
industrial  change,  therefore,  the  unseen  hand  was 
pushing  slavery  on  to  its  doom. 

But  unfortunately  this  was  not  the  end  of  the 
labour  problem.  In  Europe,  its  broader  aspects 
had  been  widely  and  intensely  discussed.  Karl 
Marx,  a  repudiated  Jew,  had  sounded  the  note  of 
war  on  capital  and  private  ownership  in  his  Com 
munist  Manifesto  of  1848.  Cabet  in  France  had 
heralded  a  new  industrial  heaven  until  bleeding 
Icaria  had  sobbed  out  its  doom.  Louis  Blanc  was 
able  to  induce  revolutionary  France  to  adopt  a 
radical  scheme  in  1848,  only  in  six  months  to  run 
on  the  rocks.  Proudhon  with  raucous  voice 
thundered  the  immortal  lie  that  "Property  is 
robbery."  Maurice,  Kingsley,  and  Carlyle  had 
sounded  in  more  delicate  tones  the  discontent  of 
British  labour.  In  America,  however,  little  dis 
cussion  occurred,  absorbed  as  we  were  in  the  social 
problems  of  slavery  and  states  rights.  For  fifty 
years  the  tides  of  social  controversy  had  swept 
the  continent  of  Europe,  yet  had  scarcely  touched 
our  shores.  Such  alien  literature  reached  us  as 
Marx's  correspondence.  Arthur  Brisbane's  ex- 


CHRISTIAN  VIEW  OF  LABOUR     363 

pose  of  Fourierism  and  Greeley's  harmless  ut 
terances  feebly  echoed  alien  views. 

Lincoln  was  not  widely  read.  There  is  no  evi 
dence  that  he  understood  much  that  was  being 
said  and  done  across  the  sea.  He  dug  out  of  his 
own  consciousness  and  conscience  illuminated  by 
Christianity  what  he  knew  concerning  labour,  capi 
tal,  and  property.  It  is  a  marvellous  instance  of 
clear  thinking  led  by  loyalty  to  righteousness.  In 
bold  contrast  Lincoln  stands  out  against  Marx  and 
his  followers  who  distorted  Ricardo's  sayings  to 
support  the  Marxian  view  that  labour,  meaning 
physical  labour,  produces  all  wealth,  that  rent 
and  interest  are  therefore  merely  robbery  and 
exploitation,  that  property  and  capital  have  no 
right  to  exist. 

Lincoln  evidently  perceived  the  irrepressible 
industrial  conflict.  He  was  clearing  the  ground 
for  the  final  struggle.  He  was  weaving  general 
principles  into  the  technical  discussion  that  was  on. 
He  was  going  straight  to  the  point.  To  working- 
men  themselves  he  was  defending  property  in  such 
pregnant  utterances  as  are  found  in  the  speech 
made  March  i,  1864,  to  the  Committee  of  the 
Workingmen's  Association  in  New  York: 

Property  is  the  fruit  of  labour.  It  is  desirable.  It 
is  a  positive  good  to  the  world.  That  some  should  be 


364  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

rich  shows  that  others  may  become  rich,  and  hence 
it  is  just  encouragement  to  industry  and  enterprise. 
Let  not  him  who  is  houseless  pull  down  the  house  of 
another,  but  let  him  labour  diligently  and  build  one 
for  himself,  thus  by  example  assuring  that  his  own 
shall  be  safe  from  violence  when  built. 

These  calm,  conservative,  and  rational  words  of 
Lincoln  on  the  question  of  property  stand  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  lawless  methods  ad 
vocated  and  adopted  by  the  agitators  and  revo 
lutionaries  of  the  present  day.  The  existing 
industrial  system  of  America,  largely  the  fruit  of 
Lincoln's  practical  wisdom  and  action,  constitutes 
the  Gibraltar  of  economic  stability  upon  which  the 
wild  dreams  and  lurid  experiments  of  Syndicalism, 
the  I.  W.  W.,  and  Bolshevism,  are  utterly  shattered 
as  unpractical  and  unworkable  schemes. 

But  at  the  same  time  with  his  inclusive  mind 
Lincoln  recognized  the  responsibility  of  capital  to 
labour.  He  saw  that  they  depended  on  each  other, 
that  the  relation  was  reciprocal.  In  a  speech  in 
Cincinnati,  in  1859,  he  said: 

That  there  is  a  certain  relation  between  labour  and 
capital  I  admit.  That  it  does  exist  and  rightfully 
exist,  I  think  is  true.  That  men  who  are  industrious 
and  sober  and  honest  in  the  pursuit  of  their  own  inter 
ests  should  after  awhile  accumulate  capital  and  after 
that  should  be  allowed  to  enjoy  it  in  peace,  and  also, 


CHRISTIAN  VIEW  OF  LABOUR     365 

if  they  should  choose,  when  they  have  accumulated  it, 
to  use  it  to  save  themselves  from  actual  labour,  and 
hire  other  people  to  labour  for  them  is  right.  In  do 
ing  so  they  do  not  wrong  the  men  they  employ,  for 
they  find  men  who  have  not  their  own  land  to  work 
upon,  or  shops  to  work  in,  and  who  are  benefited  by 
working  for  others — hired  labourers,  receiving  their 
capital  for  it.  Thus  a  few  men  who  own  capital 
hire  others,  and  these  establish  the  relation  of  labour 
and  capital  rightfully — a  relation  of  which  I  make  no 
complaint. 

Thus  Lincoln  proclaims  this  reciprocal  relation 
between  capital  and  labour,  and  indicates  it  can 
not  be  too  strongly  emphasized.  The  moment 
you  deny  labour  the  hope  of  acquisition,  you  de 
grade  it  to  slavery.  To  destroy  or  do  away  with 
capital  would  produce  universal  poverty.  Capital 
must  reap  in  order  to  replenish  itself.  Profits 
are  nothing  more  than  replacement  fund.  Abolish 
profits  and  the  wheels  of  industry  must  stop. 

Understanding  as  he  did  the  right  relation  be 
tween  capital  and  labour  Lincoln  had  sympathy 
with  labour  because  labour  appears  to  be  more  de 
pendent  than  capital.  To  preserve  a  just  balance 
between  these  two  is  to  solve  the  riddle  of  the  ages. 
For  the  abuse  of  capital  which  is  the  temptation 
always  incident  to  capital,  Lincoln  never  held  a 
brief.  He  understood  that  human  nature  is  prone 


366  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

to  take  advantage  of  those  easy  opportunities 
which  come  more  readily  to  capital  than  to  labour. 
Speaking  in  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  as  early  as 
1837  he  said  with  this  tendency  in  mind:  " These 
capitalists  generally  set  harmoniously  and  in  con 
cert  to  fleece  the  people,  and  now  that  they  got 
into  a  quarrel  with  themselves,  we  are  called  upon 
to  appropriate  the  people's  money  to  settle  the 
quarrel."  But  he  was  as  quick  to  warn  against 
unjust  attacks  on  capital,  and  at  New  Haven, 
March  6,  1860,  he  said: 

I  like  the  system  which  lets  a  man  quit  when  he 
wants  to,  and  wish  it  might  prevail  everywhere.  One 
of  the  reasons  why  I  am  opposed  to  slavery  is  just 
here.  What  is  the  true  condition  of  the  labourer?  I 
take  it  that  it  is  best  for  all  to  leave  each  man  free 
to  acquire  property  as  far  as  he  can.  Some  will  get 
wealthy.  I  don't  believe  in  law  to  prevent  a  man 
from  getting  rich;  it  would  do  more  harm  than  good. 
So  while  we  do  not  propose  any  war  upon  capital,  we 
do  wish  to  allow  the  humblest  man  an  equal  chance 
to  get  rich  with  everybody  else. 

Perhaps  no  man  has  ever  been  more  conscien 
tious  in  maintaining  the  even  balance  between 
labour  and  capital.  In  his  second  message  to  Con 
gress,  December  3,  1861,  he  said:  "Labour  is  the 
superior  of  capital  and  deserves  the  much  higher 
appreciation.  Capital  has  its  rights  which  are  as 


CHRISTIAN  VIEW  OF  LABOUR     367 

worthy  of  protection  as  any  other  rights.  Nor  is  it 
denied  that  there  is,  and  probably  always  will  be, 
a  relation  between  labour  and  capital  producing 
mutual  benefits." 

Had  he  lived  today  doubtless  his  keen  mind 
would  have  cut  through  the  Marxian  theory  of 
"class  struggle,"  which  re-enforced  by  the  rifle 
and  the  bomb  is  not  only  the  terror  of  Russia 
but  the  peril  of  the  world.  It  is  at  least  reassur 
ing  to  find  in  his  second  Inaugural  these  words : 
"It  is  not  forgotten  that  a  considerable  number 
of  persons  mingle  their  labour  with  capital,  i.  e., 
they  labour  with  their  own  hand,  and  also  buy  or 
hire  others  to  labour  for  them;  but  this  is  only 
a  mixed  and  not  a  distinct  class.  No  principle  is 
disturbed  by  the  existence  of  this  mixed  class." 
And  again:  "As  has  already  been  said,  there  is 
not,  of  necessity,  any  such  thing  as  the  free  hired 
labourer  being  fixed  in  that  condition  for  life." 

Lincoln's  Christian  view  of  labour  included  also 
education  for  all  grades  of  labour.  In  his  agricul 
tural  address,  delivered  in  Milwaukee  in  1859,  he 
analyzed  the  situation  as  follows : 

By  the  "mudsill"  theory  it  is  assumed  that  labour 
and  education  are  incompatible,  and  any  practical 
combination  of  them  impossible.  According  to  that 
theory,  a  blind  horse  upon  a  treadmill  is  a  perfect 


368  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

illustration  of  what  a  labourer  should  be — all  the 
better  for  being  blind,  that  he  could  not  kick  under- 
standingly.  ...  A  Yankee  who  could  invent  a 
strong-handed  man  without  a  head  would  receive  the 
everlasting  gratitude  of  the  " mudsill"  advocates. 

But  free  labour  says: 

No.  Free  labour  argues  that  as  the  Author  of  man 
makes  every  individual  with  one  head  and  one  pair  of 
hands,  it  was  probably  intended  that  head  and  hands 
should  co-operate  as  friends,  and  that  particular  head 
should  direct  and  control  that  pair  of  hands.  As 
each  man  has  one  mouth  to  be  fed,  and  one  pair  of 
hands  to  furnish  food,  it  was  probably  intended  that 
particular  hands  should  feed  that  particular  mouth, 
inseparably  connected  with  it ;  and  that  being  so  every 
head  should  be  cultivated  and  improved  by  what  will 
add  to  its  capacity  for  performing  its  charge.  I  sup 
pose,  however,  I  shall  not  be  mistaken  in  assuming  as 
a  fact  that  the  people  of  Wisconsin  prefer  free  labour 
with  its  natural  companion. 

Lincoln  once  invited  criticism  in  a  misquoted 
phrase  calling  labour  a  commodity.  Even  if 
fairly  credited  to  Lincoln  it  would  not  be  inap 
plicable,  for  labour  was  so  described  by  some  au 
thorities  at  that  time.  The  following  paragraph, 
however,  shows  the  meaning  Lincoln  gives  the 
phrase : 

If  the  negro  were  not  deported,  the  same  amount  of 
labour  would  still  have  to  be  performed.  The  freed 


CHRISTIAN  VIEW  OF  LABOUR     369 

people  would  surely  not  do  more  than  their  own  pro 
portion  of  it,  and  very  probably  for  a  time  would  do 
less.  With  deportation,  even  to  a  limited  extent,  en 
hanced  wages  would  be  mathematically  certain. 
Labour  is  like  any  other  commodity  in  the  market, 
increase  the  demand  for  it  and  you  increase  the  price 
of  it. 

Radicals  of  various  types  have  been  eager  to  get 
Lincoln  on  their  side  at  any  cost.  John  Nicolay 
listed  over  a  dozen  spurious  quotations,  among 
them  one  which  gained  wide  vogue,  representing 
Lincoln  as  prophesying  the  ruinous  reign  of  the 
money  power.  Of  this  his  daughter,  Helen 
Nicolay,  writes: 

This  alleged  quotation  seems  to  have  made  its  first 
appearance  in  the  campaign  of  1888  and  it  has  re 
turned  with  planetary  regularity  ever  since.  Although 
convinced  by  internal  evidence  of  its  falsity,  my  father 
made  every  effort  to  trace  it  to  the  source,  but  could 
find  no  responsible  nor  respectable  clue.  The  truth 
is  that  Lincoln  was  no  prophet  of  a  distant  day.  His 
heart  and  mind  were  busy  with  the  problems  of  his 
own  time.  The  legacy  he  left  his  countrymen  was 
not  the  warning  of  a  seer,  but  an  example  and  an 
obligation  to  free  their  own  dark  shadows  with  the 
sanity  and  courageous  independence  he  showed  in 
looking  upon  those  that  confronted  him. 

Lincoln  is  insistent  that  labour  be  free  to  ac 
quire  property.  Again  and  again  he  recognizes 

24 


370  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

the  right  of  "getting  rich."  Our  government  it 
self  is  built  on  the  idea  of  the  equal  opportunity  of 
everybody  to  become  all  that  is  in  him.  Demo 
cracy  would  give  a  chance  to  every  man  to  do  the 
best  he  can.  If  he  has  the  ability  to  rise,  he  will 
rise.  If  he  happens  to  be  born  into  a  higher  level 
on  which  he  has  not  the  capacity  to  sustain  himself, 
he  will  naturally  sink  by  the  gravitation  of  his 
natural  ability  to  a  lower  level.  Lincoln  himself 
is  a  living  example  of  the  priceless  opportunity 
which  democracy  affords  even  to  the  lowliest. 
July  I,  1854,  he  said:  "There  is  no  permanent 
class  of  hired  labourers  amongst  us.  Twenty-five 
years  ago  I  was  a  hired  labourer.  Advancement 
is  the  order  of  things  in  a  society  of  equals." 
Born  in  obscurity,  reared  in  poverty,  he  exempli 
fied  by  his  elevation  to  the  Presidency  how  a 
real  democracy  may  work  under  the  checks  and 
balances  of  an  ordered  Constitution  operating  in  a 
Christian  commonwealth. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

JERUSALEM 

As  the  war  dragged  to  its  end,  Lincoln  grew 
unutterably  weary  both  in  soul  and  body.  "I 
think  I  shall  never  be  glad  again,"  he  confided  to  a 
friend.  Out  of  sunken  eyes — so  pitiful  as  one  per 
ceives  who  studies  the  life  mask  Clark  Mills  made 
a  while  before  he  died — there  looked  not  merely 
brooding  sadness,  but  something  like  unspeakable 
despair. 

The  morning  of  April  I4th  dawned  soft  and 
sunny  on  the  Nation's  Capitol.  The  lilacs  were 
in  eager  bloom.  The  willows  clothed  their  grace 
ful  boughs  with  a  new  green.  Spring  had  come. 
For  ten  days  news  of  victory  after  victory  had  been 
flashing  over  every  wire,  and  even  nature  seemed 
determined  men  should  know  the  winter's  discon 
tent  was  blossoming  into  a  glorious  summer  of 
reunion  and  of  reconciliation.  The  war  was  over. 
There  was  no  longer  any  doubt  of  that. 

Early  in  the  morning  came  the  final  word.  Every 
one  rejoiced.  Even  the  countless  many  who  were 


372  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OF  GOD 

mourning  their  dear  dead  felt  the  common  thrill 
of  a  new  joyousness.  James  Russell  Lowell  wrote 
his  good  friend  Norton:  "The  news,  my  dear 
Charles,  is  from  Heaven." 

Lincoln  was  happiest  of  all.  There  was  a  new 
spring  in  his  step.  The  bowed  shoulders  were  up 
lifted.  His  tired  face  was  all  agleam  with  serene 
cheeriness.  At  the  Cabinet  meeting  held  soon 
after  breakfast  someone  showed  concern  because 
no  word  had  been  received  from  Sherman.  It  was 
Lincoln  who  bade  them  be  of  good  courage.  They 
would  soon  have  news  from  Sherman — news  that 
all  was  well.  He  had  dreamed  the  night  before — 
as  often  during  those  four  years  when  something 
gratifying  was  about  to  happen — that  he  saw  a 
vessel  "moving  with  great  rapidity  toward  a  dark 
and  indefinite  shore."  He  had  learned  to  trust 
that  dream.  It  never  failed  him. 

In  the  afternoon  he  took  Mrs.  Lincoln  out  into 
the  country  for  a  drive  and  talk  that  only  wife  and 
husband  know  the  meaning  of  at  such  a  time. 
They  planned  far  into  the  future.  "Mary,"  he 
said,  "we  have  had  a  hard  time  in  Washington; 
but  the  war  is  over  and  with  God's  blessing  we  may 
hope  for  four  years  of  peace  and  happiness,  and 
then  we  will  go  back  to  Illinois."1 

1  Arnold's  Life  of  Lincoln,  p.  429. 


JERUSALEM  373 

They  were  going  home.  To  go  home  is  the  best 
thing  any  one  can  do.  The  call  home  is  the  one 
urge  to  which  all  normal  men  respond  who  have 
been  beaten  by  the  storms  of  life  till  the  power 
to  go  on  seems  almost  broken.  The  home-going 
instinct  is  world-wide. 

That  evening  the  President's  box  at  Ford's 
Theatre  was  to  be  occupied.  The  party  came  in 
late.  The  play  was  well  worth  seeing.  Laura 
Keene  was  at  her  best.  The  attention  of  the 
crowded  house  was  divided  between  the  play  and 
the  President.  All  were  glad  with  him  and  glad 
for  him. 

For  him  at  such  a  time  the  theatre  had  no 
glamour,  the  play  no  allurement.  He  was  think 
ing  of  the  better  days  to  come,  of  going  home,  of 
God  and  His  unfailing  mercy,  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
His  redeeming  grace.  Among  the  plans  flitting 
through  his  mind  was  one  to  go  as  soon  as  circum 
stances  would  permit  to  Palestine.  A  yearning 
had  come  over  him  to  tread  "those  holy  fields 
over  whose  acres  walked  those  blessed  feet  .  .  . 
nail'd  for  our  advantage  on  the  bitter  cross." 

He  said  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  there  was  no  place  he 
wished  so  much  to  see  as  Jerusalem.  The  word 
was  but  half  finished  on  his  lips.  Mary  heard  him 
whisper,  "Jeru — !"  Then  the  most  cruel  and 


374  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN—MAN  OF  GOD 

most  senseless  bullet  ever  fired  in  history  sped 
too  surely  to  its  mark.  The  man  of  God  started 
for  Jerusalem,  but  it  was, 

Jerusalem,  the  golden, 
The  home  of  God's  elect. x 

1  Lincoln  Scrapbook,  p.  52.  From  Rev.  N.  W.  Miner's  con 
versation  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  soon  after  the  assassination.  Dr. 
Miner  had  been  a  pastor  in  Springfield  and  assisted  also  in  the 
burial  service  at  Springfield  on  May  4,  1865. 


APPENDIX  I 

THE  FORERUNNER 

PETER  CARTWRIGHT  was  the  forerunner  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln.  This  was  the  order  of  Providence. 
Religious  emotion  would  precede  political  commotion. 
The  heart  had  to  be  warmed  before  the  mind  could  be 
convinced.  A  flame  of  love  had  to  be  kindled  before 
the  conscience  could  be  converted. 

Peter  Cartwright  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1785  of 
impecunious  parents.  His  father  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Revolutionary  War;  his  mother  was  a  devout  Metho 
dist.  In  1793  his  parents  settled  in  Logan  County, 
Kentucky,  near  the  Tennessee  border.  Here  it  was 
that  Jacob  Lurton,  a  travelling  Methodist  Preacher, 
one  day  asked  permission  to  preach  in  the  Cartwright 
cabin.  Peter  was  in  his  ninth  year  and  was  sent  out 
to  invite  his  neighbours  to  hear  the  preacher,  thus 
paralleling  the  memorable  experience  in  the  life  of 
Lincoln  at  the  age  of  nine,  when  he  went  out  to  invite 
the  neighbours  to  hear  the  sermon  at  his  mother's 
grave. 

When  the  Cartwrights  settled  in  Logan  County, 
there  was  not  a  mill  within  forty  miles  and  no  schools. 
Sunday  was  a  day  set  apart  for  hunting,  fishing, 
horseracing,  cardplaying,  dances,  and  all  kinds  of 
amusement. 

"We  killed  our  own  meat  out  of  the  woods,"  says 

375 


376  APPENDIX  I 

Cartwright  in  his  Autobiography,  "and  beat  our  meal 
and  hominy  with  a  pestle  and  mortar";  "we  stretched 
a  deerskin  over  a  hoop,  burned  holes  in  it  with,  the 
prongs  of  a  fork,  sifted  our  meal  and  baked  our  bread. 
We  gathered  out  of  the  woods  sage,  bohea,  cross-vine, 
spice,  and  sassafras,  and  other  herbs ;  we  raised  our  own 
cotton  and  flax  and  our  garments  we  made  out  of  what 
we  wove." 

It  was  at  a  place  called  Cane  Ridge  in  Kentucky  in 
1800,  that,  to  use  Cartwright 's  words,  "the  unex 
pected  happened  and  the  power  of  God  was  displayed 
in  a  very  extraordinary  manner ;  many  were  moved  to 
tears  and  a  bitter  and  loud  crying  for  mercy.  The 
meeting  was  protracted  for  weeks.  Ministers  of  all 
denominations  flocked  in  from  far  and  near.  Thou 
sands  came  on  foot,  on  horseback,  in  carriages,  and  in 
wagons.  The  attendance  numbered  from  twelve 
to  twenty-five  thousand.  Hundreds  fell  prostrate 
under  the  power  of  God,  as  men  slain  in  battle.  Stands 
were  erected  in  the  woods  from  which  preachers  of 
different  denominations  preached.  It  was  not  un 
usual  for  two,  three,  four,  or  seven  preachers  to  be 
addressing  the  meetings  at  one  time  from  different 
stands,  and  the  Heavenly  fire  spread  in  every  direc 
tion.  Thousands  broke  out  into  shouting  all  at  once 
and  the  shouts  could  be  heard  for  miles  around." 

This  was  the  first  camp  meeting  ever  held  in  any 
country  and  its  fame  must  now  be  counted  historic. 
From  this  point  the  news  spread  through  all  the 
churches  and  over  all  the  land.  Peter  Cartwright  was 
converted  later  on  at  another  meeting  of  the  same 
kind,  when  in  his  sixteenth  year.  This  religious 
movement  had  begun  twelve  years  before  the  birth 
of  Lincoln. 


APPENDIX  I  377 

In  1804,  Cartwright  was  famous  in  Kentucky  as 
the  "Boy  Preacher,"  but  he  never  lost  his  head. 
Never  was  he  sidetracked  into  vain  ambitions  of 
worldly  and  material  power.  Never  did  he  covet 
fine  homes  and  large  tracts  of  land.  Never  was  his 
imagination  obsessed  with  the  idea  of  becoming  a 
Bishop.  His  was  the  simple  life,  and,  like  Lincoln, 
he  would  live  and  die  a  practical  Christian. 

In  1824,  the  great  preacher  moved  with  his  family 
from  Kentucky  to  Illinois,  having  been  appointed  by 
Bishop  Roberts  to  travel  the  Sangamon  Circuit. 
Springfield  was  then  the  new  seat  of  Government. 
The  circuit  rider  describes  the  place  as  "having  a  few 
smoky,  hastily  built  cabins  and  one  or  two  very  little 
shanties  called  stores,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
heavy  articles,  I  could  have  carried  on  my  back  in  a 
few  loads  all  they  had  for  sale." 

Peter  Cartwright  was  appointed  in  1826  to  the 
position  of  Presiding  Elder  of  a  district  that  extended 
from  the  Kaskaskia  River  to  the  extreme  Northern 
settlements,  and  even  to  the  Pottowattomis  Nation 
of  Indians  on  Fox  River.  In  the  whole  of  Illinois 
there  were  not  more  than  three  thousand  of  the  Metho 
dist  Episcopal  Church.  The  Forerunner  had  to  travel 
up  and  down  a  district  several  hundred  miles  long, 
covering  on  the  west  side  of  the  Grand  Prairie  fully 
two  thirds  of  the  geographical  boundaries  of  the  State. 

"The  year  before  I  moved  to  Illinois,"  says  the 
preacher,  "there  had  been  a  strong  move  by  a  corrupt 
Legislature  to  call  a  Convention,  with  a  view  to  alter 
the  Constitution  so  as  to  admit  slavery  into  the  State. 
I  had  left  Kentucky  on  account  of  slavery,  and,  as  I 
hoped,  had  bid  a  final  farewell  to  all  slave  institutions; 
but  the  subject  was  well  rife  throughout  the  country; 


378  APPENDIX  I 

for  although  the  followers  of  human  liberty  had  sus 
tained  themselves  and  carried  the  election  by  more 
than  one  thousand  votes,  yet  it  was  feared  that  the 
advocates  of  slavery  would  renew  the  effort  and  cause 
this  abomination  of  desolation  to  stand  where  it  ought 
not.  I  entered  the  lists  to  oppose  slavery  and  without 
any  forethought  went  into  the  agitated  waters  of 
political  strife.  I  was  strongly  solicited  to  become  a 
candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  Legislature  of  our  State. 
I  consented  and  was  elected  as  a  Representative  from 
Sangamon  County.  I  found  that  almost  every  meas 
ure  had  to  be  carried  by  a  corrupt  bargain  and  sale 
which  would  cause  honest  men  to  blush  for  their 
country.  My  sentiments  placed  me  in  a  minority 
in  my  county  and  I  retired  from  politics." 

Like  Lincoln,  the  great  preacher  had  an  extraor 
dinary  experience  on  the  Mississippi  River.  In  April, 
1828,  Cartwright  and  two  companions,  Thompson  and 
Dow,  met  at  St.  Louis  to  take  passage  on  board  a 
steamboat  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  General  Con 
ference  at  Pittsburgh.  "We  had,"  he  says,  "never 
been  on  a  steamboat  before.  Our  boat  was  named 
The  Velocipede  with  Mr.  Ray,  captain.  Before  we 
went  aboard,  Brothers  Dow  and  Thompson,  with  the 
kindest  feelings  imaginable,  thought  it  their  duty  to 
coach  me  to  be  very  quiet,  for  those  steamboat  fellows, 
passengers  and  all,  were  desperadoes.  They  knew  I 
was  outspoken,  loved  everybody,  and  feared  nobody. 
They  were  afraid  I  would  get  into  some  difficulty  with 
somebody.  I  thanked  them  very  kindly  for  their 
special  care  of  me;  'but,'  said  I,  'Brethren,  take  care 
of  yourselves,  I  think  I  know  how  to  behave  myself 
and  make  others  behave  themselves,  if  need  be.' 

"  When  we  got  aboard  we  had  a  crowded  cabin,  and  a 


APPENDIX  I  379 

mixed  multitude:  Deists,  Atheists,  Universalists,  a 
great  many  profane  swearers,  drunkards,  gamblers, 
fiddlers,  and  dancers.  We  dropped  down  to  the  bar 
racks  below  St.  Louis,  and  there  came  aboard  eight 
or  ten  United  States  officers,  a  jolly  set,  I  assure  you. 
They  drank,  fiddled,  danced,  swore,  played  cards, 
men  and  women  too.  I  walked  about,  said  nothing, 
but  plainly  saw  we  were  in  a  bad  snap.  But  there 
was  no  way  to  help  ourselves.  Brother  Thompson 
came  to  me  and  said :  '  Lord,  have  mercy  on  me,  what 
shall  I  do?' 

"  '  Go  to  your  berth,'  said  I, '  and  stay  there  quietly.' 

"'No,'  said  he,  'I'll  reprove  them.' 

"'Now,  Brother,'  I  said,  'Do  not  cast  your  pearls 
before  swine.' 

"  '  Well,'  said  he, '  I  won't  stay  in  the  cabin,  I'll  go  on 
deck.' 

"  Up  he  started,  and  when  he  got  there,  behold  they 
were  playing  cards  from  one  end  of  the  deck  to  the 
other.  Back  he  came  and  said: 

"  'What  shall  I  do?     I  cannot  stand  it.' 

"  'Well,'  said  I,  'Brother  Thompson,  be  quiet  and 
behave  yourself.  You  have  no  way  to  remedy  your 
condition  unless  you  jump  overboard  and  swim  to 
shore.' 

"So  things  went  on  for  several  days  and  nights.  At 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  there  came  aboard  a  Captain 
Waters.  He  had  a  new  fiddle  and  a  pack  of  cards. 
He  was  a  professed  infidel.  Card-playing  was  re 
newed  all  over  the  cabin.  The  captain  of  the  boat 
was  as  fond  of  dancing  and  card-playing  as  any  of 
them.  There  was  a  lieutenant  of  the  regular  army, 
and  although  he  was  very  wicked,  he  had  been  raised 
by  religious  parents.  His  wife,  as  he  told  me,  was  a 


380  APPENDIX  I 

good  Christian.  In  walking  the  guard,  this  lieutenant 
whose  name  was  Barker  and  myself  fell  into  con 
versation,  and,  being  by  ourselves,  I  took  occasion  to 
remonstrate  with  him  on  the  subject  of  his  profanity. 
He  readily  admitted  that  it  was  wrong  and  said,  'I 
have  been  taught  better.'  There  was  also  a  Major 
Biddle  on  board,  a  professed  infidel,  but  gentlemanly 
in  his  manner.  I  talked  with  him  in  private.  I  re 
monstrated  against  his  profanity.  He  agreed  with 
me  in  all  I  said.  Presently  they  gathered  around  a 
table  and  played  cards.  I  walked  carelessly  by  and 
looked  on.  Lieutenant  Barker  and  Captain  Waters 
looked  up  at  me.  I  know  they  felt  reproved. 

"Said  one  of  them  to  me:  'We  are  not  blacklegs. 
We  are  not  playing  for  money,  but  just  to  kill  time.' 

"I  affected  to  be  profoundly  ignorant  of  what  they 
were  doing  and  asked  them  what  those  little  spotted 
things  were. 

"Mr.  Barker  said:  'Sit  down  and  I  will  show  you 
what  we  are  doing  and  how  we  do  it.' 

"'No  use,'  said  I,  'my  friends,  I  am  afraid  it  is 
all  wrong.'  They  insisted  there  was  no  harm  in  it 
at  all. 

"'Well,'  said  I,  'Gentlemen,  if  you  are  just  playing 
for  fun  or  to  kill  time,  would  it  not  be  better  to  drop 
all  such  foolishness  and  let  us  talk  on  some  topic  to 
inform  each  other  ?  Then  we  could  all  be  edified.  As 
it  is,  a  few  of  you  enjoy  all  the  pleasure,  while  the  rest 
of  us  are  not  benefited.  Come,  lay  those  little  spotted 
cards  that  are  only  calculated  to  please  children  of 
a  larger  size  and  let  us  talk  on  history,  philosophy, 
astronomy;  then  we  can  all  enjoy  it  and  be  greatly 
benefited. ' 

"Captain  Waters  said,  'Sir,  if  you  would  debate 


APPENDIX  I  381 

with  me  on  the  Christian  religion,  we  will  quit  all  our 
cards,  fiddles,  and  dances.' 

111 1  will  do  it  with  pleasure,  Captain,*  said  I,  'I 
have  only  one  objection  to  debate  with  you  for  you 
swear  and  use  oaths  and  I  can't  swear  back  at  you.  I 
fear  a  debate  mixed  up  with  oaths  would  be 
unprofitable.' 

" '  Well,  sir,'  said  he,  'if  you  will  debate  with  me  on 
that  subject,  I  will  pledge  you  my  word  and  honour 
I  will  not  swear  a  single  oath.' 

"'Very  well,  sir,'  said  I,  'on  that  condition  I  will 
debate  with  you.' 

"By  this  time  a  large  crowd  had  gathered  around  us. 
Lieutenant  Barker  said:  'Now,  Gentlemen,  draw  near 
and  take  notice  of  the  terms  on  which  this  debate  is  to 
be  conducted,  take  your  seats  and  listen  to  the  argu 
ments  and  by  the  consent  of  the  two  belligerent 
gentlemen  I  will  keep  order.' 

"We  both  agreed  to  this  proposition.  The  Cap 
tain  opened  the  discussion  by  a  great  flourish  of 
trumpets  expressing  his  happiness  at  having  one  more 
opportunity  of  vindicating  the  religion  of  reason  and 
nature  in  opposition  to  the  religion  of  an  'illegitimate.' 
To  all  of  these  flourishes,  I  simply  replied  that  the 
Christian  religion  was  of  age  and  could  speak  for  itself 
and  that  I  felt  proud  of  an  opportunity  to  show  that 
infidelity  was  born  out  of  holy  wedlock  and  therefore 
in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word  was  an  illegitimate, 
and  I  thought  it  ill  became  the  advocates  of  such  a 
spurious  progeny  to  heap  any  reproaches  on  Christ. 

"These  exordiums  riveted  the  attention  of  all  the 
passengers,  the  Captain,  ladies,  and  all.  My  opponent 
proceeded  to  lay  down  his  premises  and  draw  his  con 
clusion.  When  his  twenty  minutes  expired,  I  replied, 


382  APPENDIX  I 

quoting  a  passage  of  Scripture.  'Hold,  sir,'  said  my 
opponent,  '  I  don't  allow  a  book  of  fables  and  lies  to 
be  brought  in,  nothing  shall  be  admitted  here  but 
honourable  testimony.' 

"Very  well,  sir,'  said  I,  'the  Bible  shall  be  dispensed 
with  altogether.  I  shall  introduce  testimony  drawn 
from  the  book  of  nature.'  And  proceeded  with  the 
argument. 

"In  his  second  replication,  he  quoted  Tom  Paine 
as  evidence. 

" '  Hold,  sir,'  said  I,  '  such  a  degraded  witness  as  Tom 
Paine  can't  be  admittted  as  testimony  in  this  debate.' 

"  My  opponent  flew  into  a  violent  passion  and  swore 
profanely  that  God  Almighty  had  never  made  a 
purer  or  more  honourable  man  than  Tom  Paine.  As 
he  belched  forth  these  horrid  oaths,  I  took  him  by  the 
chin,  and  worked  his  jaws  together  until  his  teeth 
rattled.  He  rose  to  his  feet.  So  did  I.  He  drew 
his  fist  and  swore  that  he  would  smite  me  to  the 
floor. 

"Lieutenant  Barker  sprang  in  between  us  and  said: 
'  Cartwright,  stand  back.  You  can  beat  him  in  argu 
ments  and  I  can  whip  him ;  if  there  is  any  fighting  to 
be  done,  I  am  his  man,  from  the  point  of  a  needle  to 
the  mouth  of  a  cannon,  as  he  pledged  his  word  and 
honour  that  he  would  not  swear,  and  he  has  broken  his 
word  and  forfeited  his  honour.'  Then  I  had  to  fly  in 
between  them  to  prevent  a  bloody  fight,  for  they  both 
drew  deadly  weapons.  Finally  this  ended  the  argu 
ment.  My  valorous  Captain  made  concession  and  all 
became  pacified. 

"From  this  on  Barker  became  my  fast  friend  and 
would  have  fought  for  me  any  time,  and  my  infidel 
Captain  Waters  became  very  friendly  with  me,  and 


APPENDIX  I  383 

when  we  landed  at  Louisville  wanted  me  to  go  home 
with  him  and  partake  of  his  'very  best  hospitalities."1 

The  advent  of  Peter  Cartwright  was  not  a  coin 
cidence. 

The  moral  and  religious  world  is  guarded  by  law 
and  not  by  chance. 

The  Methodist  converts  in  Illinois  formed  a  nucleus 
around  which  Lincoln  worked  with  success  from  the 
start.  What  class  of  people  gave  Lincoln  the  closest 
attention  and  most  respectful  hearing?  The  early 
followers  of  Cartwright  and  his  co-workers.  All  who 
were  converted  by  his  preaching  and  example  knew 
his  views  regarding  slavery  and  when  Lincoln  ap 
peared,  his  sentiments  did  not  shock  them  by  their 
strangeness.  The  soil  had  been  ploughed  by  the  in 
trepid  preacher  and  Lincoln  would  cultivate  and  reap, 
his  mission  being  so  far-reaching  that  a  special  pre 
paration  was  necessary,  and  in  considering  his  life 
we  have  to  abandon  our  preconceived  notions  about 
politicians  and  statesmen. 

Too  many  books  have  been  devoted  to  the  dry  de 
tails  of  his  life.  Too  many  writers  have  missed  the 
mark  when  dealing  with  it.  The  time  is  at  hand  when 
the  dry  facts  must  yield  the  proofs  of  the  spiritual  will 
behind  them  and  the  noble  character  of  Peter  Cart 
wright,  the  Forerunner,  must  shine  out  above  all 
superficial  speculation,  as  the  yellow  corn  shines  in  the 
sunlight  when  stripped  of  the  husks.  We  can  no  more 
separate  the  work  of  Cartwright  from  that  of  Lincoln 
than  we  can  separate  Bonaparte  from  the  French 
Revolution  or  slavery  from  the  War  of  Secession. 

The  same  inquiry  must  now  be  made  into  the  impel 
ling  forces  behind  the  character  and  career  of  Peter 
Cartwright  as  in  the  case  of  Lincoln.  Let  the  materialist 


384  APPENDIX  I 

explain  why  both  moved  from  Kentucky  into  Illinois ; 
why  both  opposed  slavery ;  why  both  were  militant  on 
the  same  moral  grounds;  why  both  belonged  to  the 
common  people;  why  both  were  self-educated  and 
both  had  mothers  who  were  deeply  religious. 

Take  Peter  Cartwright  on  any  ground  and  his  gifts 
will  stand  out  unsurpassed  except  by  those  of  Lincoln. 
On  moral  grounds  he  was  the  great  President's  equal 
and  feared  no  man.  He  was  very  robust  physically 
and  his  Christianity  was  manual  when  it  was 
necessary,  muscular  on  occasion  and  militant  always. 

Cartwright  was  unconscious  that  he  was  the  Fore 
runner  of  Lincoln.  To  the  contrary,  he  regarded  him 
self  as  the  political  antagonist  of  Lincoln  and  took 
pride  in  the  thought  that  he  was  working  against 
Lincoln  when,  in  fact,  he  was  preparing  the  way  for 
him.  Two  such  representatives  of  a  great,  divine  idea 
could  not  long  be  kept  apart.  Separated  as  partisans, 
they  were  united  as  patriots  and  reformers,  Cartwright 
opening  the  way  for  Lincoln  as  they  both  advanced, 
step  by  step,  toward  the  promised  land  of  freedom. 

The  workmen  on  the  Parthenon  were  so  blinded  by 
the  dust  of  the  blocks  at  which  they  were  chiselling, 
that  they  could  not  see  the  symmetry  and  glory  of  the 
temple  which  sprang  from  the  brain  of  Ictinus  and 
crowned  the  hills  of  Athens.  They  saw  it  when  it  was 
completed.  Peter  Cartwright's  eyes  were  so  blinded 
by  the  dust  of  partisan  prejudice  and  controversy 
that  he  could  not  catch  the  divine  inspiration  of 
Lincoln's  life  nor  behold  in  full  outline  the  vastness 
of  his  soul ;  neither  could  he  discern  the  great  purpose 
which  fired  the  consciousness  and  sustained  the  ambi 
tion  of  Lincoln,  a  purpose  with  which  Cartwright  not 
only  held  kinship  but  which,  in  fact,  he  pioneered. 


APPENDIX  I  385 

This  knowledge,  however,  gradually  dawned  upon 
Peter  Cartwright,  and  when  it  reached  its  full  fruition, 
he  was  ready  to  take  the  witness  stand  and  openly 
champion  the  prophet  of  whom  he  was  the  herald. 

In  his  Personal  Recollections  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
Mr.  Henry  B.  Rankin,  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  who 
before  the  war  was  a  law  student  in  Lincoln's  office,  has 
put  on  record  a  startling  and  vivid  account  of  Peter 
Cartwright 's  experience  at  a  dinner  party  given  in  his 
honour  by  James  Harper,  the  senior  member  at  that 
time,  of  the  Harper  Publishing  Company  in  New  York 
City. 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  1862  when  Cartwright  visited 
the  East  and  addressed  many  large  audiences  in  the 
leading  cities.  "After  his  return," x  says  Mr.  Rankin, 
"he  spent  several  days  with  my  parents  and  I  shall 
repeat  the  account  he  gave  us  of  that  dinner  party. 
The  company  at  the  Harper  reception  given  in  his 
honour  was  composed,  he  said  of  representative  mer 
chants,  bankers,  lawyers,  and  a  few  ministers.  The 
ministers  seemed  less  desirous  of  meeting  him  than 
were  the  others.  He  said  that  they  met  at  an  hour 
earlier  than  usual  for  such  functions  because  he  had 
previously  made  an  engagement  with  a  Brooklyn 
pastor  to  address  a  meeting  for  him  at  8.30  the  same 
evening  and  had  accepted  Mr.  Harper's  invitation 
subject  to  this  earlier  engagement.  Cartwright  said 
that '  he  felt  like  a  cat  in  a  strange  garret '  on  '  meeting 
so  many  celebrated  men  for  the  first  time'  and  that 
when  he  was  introduced  to  the  guests  he  was  'all 
doubled  up'  but  (using  a  favourite  expression  when 
endeavouring  to  be  cautious  and  conventional)  that 

Personal  Recollections  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Henry  B.  Rankin, 
p.  276. 

as 


386  APPENDIX  I 

he  '  poised  himself '  so  as  not  to  reflect  discredit  upon 
his  backwoods  raising." 

He  said  he  had  hoped  to  play  the  inconspicuous 
part  of  a  quiet  listener  among  these  eminent  men 
whom  he  regarded  as  superiors.  Instead,  for  an  hour 
or  more,  he  was  forced  to  take  the  most  prominent 
part,  answering  their  questions  concerning  the  frontier 
life,  his  experiences  as  a  preacher  at  camp-meetings, 
and  on  other  occasions  among  the  rough  characters 
of  the  Far  West.  At  length  he  succeeded  "in  directing 
the  conversation  to  the  sad  condition  of  national 
affairs."  Having  diverted  the  attention  from  himself, 
he  lapsed  into  silence  in  order  that  he  might  learn  the 
attitude  of  such  a  representative  company  of  New 
York  men  toward  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  efforts 
to  crush  the  Rebellion.  He  knew  how  seriously  the 
loss  of  Southern  trade  had  affected  the  business  of 
some  of  the  guests ;  and  he  expected  to  find  their  sym 
pathies  were  influenced  by  this  condition  of  their 
pocketbooks;  but  he  did  not  expect  to  find  any  one 
there  whose  sympathies  were  strongly  with  the 
Southern  Confederacy. 

To  Cartwright's  great  surprise,  he  heard  nothing 
but  criticisms  of  President  Lincoln's  course  since  his 
inauguration;  or  the  milder  view  of  "anything  for 
peace,"  and  a  compromise  guaranteeing  whatever 
conditions  the  South  might  demand.  "The  con 
sciences  of  the  entire  company"  said  Cartwright — to 
use  his  exact  words — "were  choked  with  cotton  and 
cankered  with  gold."  He  said  that  he  had  never  felt 
his  blood  so  hot  with  indignation  as  it  was  while  sitting 
there  as  the  guest  of  honour  and  listening  to  such 
conversation. 

Looking  at  his  watch,  he  saw  that  it  was  nearly  time 


APPENDIX  I  387 

for  him  to  be  on  his  way  to  Brooklyn.  Holding  his 
watch  in  his  hand,  he  addressed  Mr.  Harper,  asking 
to  be  excused  since,  making  allowances  for  delays  in 
transit,  he  had  only  sufficient  time  to  meet  his  appoint 
ment.  Mr.  Harper  protested:  "No,  no,  Father  Cart- 
wright,  not  until  after  the  next  course,  which  is  the 
best  and  rarest  to  be  served." 

Cartwright  replied:  "That  is  very  kind  and  con 
siderate,  Brother  Harper,  very  kind  indeed,  and  I 
thank  you  for  your  forethought.  But  instead  of  shar 
ing  the  next  course  with  you,  I  beg  your  attention 
before  I  leave  to  hear  from  me  a  few  parting  words  of 
admonition  and  counsel."  The  request  was  granted, 
and  I  repeat  what  he  said  as  nearly  as  I  can  recall  his 
report  of  the  startling  words  with  which  he  addressed 
them: 

"  I  am  an  old  man;  the  sands  in  the  hour-glass  of  my 
life  have  nearly  finished  their  flow.  What  I  can  say 
and  what  I  can  do  in  this  world,  if  accomplished  at  all, 
must  be  done  promptly.  So  I  wish  to  speak  very 
plainly  to  you  tonight.  If  I  had  known  I  would  meet 
such  a  nest  of  tories  and  traitors  here,  I  would  not 
have  put  my  legs  under  your  table. 

"My  father,"  continued  Cartwright,  "was  a  Revo 
lutionary  patriot.  He  gave  the  best  years  of  his  life 
to  this  country  as  a  soldier  in  wresting  from  the  Brit 
ish  Crown  the  independence  of  the  Colonies  and 
winning  the  West  for  these  United  States.  Since 
then,  as  boy  and  man,  first  in  'the  dark  and  bloody 
battleground'  of  Kentucky's  Indian  strife,  and  later 
as  a  pioneer  in  the  frontier  settlements  of  Illinois,  I 
have  kept  most  sacred,  by  personal  service  in  an  hum 
ble  way,  my  faith  and  loyal  devotion  to  the  priceless 
legacy  of  these  United  States,  left  me  by  my  patriot 


388  APPENDIX  I 

father.  I  know  what  his  united  country  is  worth  to 
us  now.  I  have  seen  and  rejoiced  in  its  growth;  I 
have  lived  its  glorious  life.  I  have  been  baptized 
with  the  blood  that  won,  and  have  had  a  part  in  the 
labours  that  cemented  together  these  United  States 
which  now  span  the  land  from  ocean  to  ocean  with 
more  happy  and  prosperous  homes  than  God's  sun 
ever  shone  on  before. 

"As  I  near  the  sunset  days  of  my  life  I  behold,  with 
none  of  your  dollar-blurred  vision,  what  is  to  be  our 
country's  future  if  we  hold  these  states  united  as  our 
fathers  bequeathed  them  to  us.  At  the  same  time  I 
see  in  anticipation  and  horror  fully  as  clearly,  through 
what  would  be  my  blinding  tears  of  wrath  and  dis 
may,  the  huge  hell  of  jealousy  and  discord  that  can 
be  opened  up  within  our  country's  boundaries  if  the 
secessionists  succeed  in  rending  the  Union  of  our 
States.  You,  their  sympathizers  on  this  side  of  the 
Mason  and  Dixon  line,  are  accomplishing  here  today 
more  for  those  secessionists,  by  your  criticisms  and 
lack  of  sympathy  for  President  Lincoln's  noble 
labours  for  the  Union,  than  you  could  do  were  you 
down  South  this  hour,  enrolled  in  the  ranks  of  Jeff 
Davis's  Confederacy. 

"As  I  have  tonight  listened  to  such  unpatriotic 
censures  by  you  of  the  President,  allow  me  to  express 
to  you  from  first-hand  knowledge,  my  opinion  of  his 
personal  capacity  and  patriotism.  As  the  crow  flies, 
I  have  lived  within  a  score  of  miles  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  for  a  third  of  a  century.  Until  shortly  before  he 
took  the  oath  of  office  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  we  had  trained  in  different  political  camps,  he 
a  Whig  and  I  a  Democrat.  I  remained  a  Democrat 
until  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter.  Since  then  I  know 


APPENDIX  I  389 

no  party  save  that  of  my  undivided  country  and 
Abraham  Lincoln  its  President. 

"Once  we  were  opposing  candidates  for  a  seat  in 
Congress.  I  went  down  to  defeat.  But  it  was  de 
feat  by  a  gentleman  and  a  patriot.  I  stand  here  to 
night  to  commend  to  you  the  Christian  character, 
sterling  integrity  and  far-seeing  sagacity  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  whose  official  acts  you 
have,  in  your  blind  money-madness,  so  critically 
assailed. 

"  When  you  go  from  here  to  your  homes,  I  want  you 
to  bear  with  you  the  assurance  of  his  neighbour  and 
once  political  opponent  that  the  country  will  be  safe 
in  his  hands.  I  wish  to  have  you  understand  that 
back  of  him  will  stand  an  unflinching  host  of  Western 
men,  who  have  no  financial  ghosts  that  terrify  them, 
and  who  are  destined  to  rescue  this  nation  from  the 
perils  now  before  us.  Why  stand  ye  here,  idle  critics  ? 
May  God  send  patriotic  light  into  your  stingy  souls! 

"I  am  through.  I  may  have  said  too  much,  and 
said  it  too  harshly,  for  I  am  not  a  man  of  smooth,  soft 
words.  I  was  born  in  a  cane-brake,  where  my  mother 
was  hurried  and  secreted  to  escape  the  tomahawks  of 
savage  Indians;  I  was  rocked  in  a  bee-gum  for  my 
cradle;  and  my  graduation  degrees  were  taken  from, 
and  in,  life's  thunderstorms.  I  may  be  considered  by 
you  a  very  rude  guest;  but  in  such  national  distress, 
when  I  feel  so  intensely  my  country's  perils,  I  could 
not  speak  less  strongly  than  I  have  spoken.  I  could 
not  withdraw  in  silence  and  go  sneaking  from  this 
company  without  feeling  that  I  had  been  a  coward 
and  false  to  my  country. 

"  In  a  last  word  and  as  my  farewell,  I  shall  give  you 
a  toast.  In  this  glass  of  Heaven-brewed  'Adam's 


390  APPENDIX  I 

Ale '  I  proclaim  and  admonish  you  with  the  sentiments 
uttered  by  the  great  Webster  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  and  its  patriotic  companion  piece  announced 
by  Senator  Douglas  the  last  time  he  stood  before  an 
Illinois  audience." 

Cartwright  said  that  as  he  spoke  this  last  sentence 
he  reached  before  him  for  a  glass  of  water  by  his  plate 
and,  holding  it  high  above  him,  repeated  the  words  of 
the  two  illustrious  senators:  "  Liberty  and  Union,  now 
and  forever,  one  and  inseparable."  "There  are  now 
but  two  parties — Patriots  and  Traitors!" 

Nothing  more  vivid  rises  up  out  of  my  memories  of 
more  than  half  a  century  past  than  those  earnest 
words  as  he  repeated  them  to  us  with  that  intensity 
and  emotion  so  characteristic  of  that  veteran  hero 
of  Western  Methodism,  that  life-long  Jacksonian 
Democrat  of  the  stalwart,  old  school  type  of  parti 
sanship. 

This  conversation  occurred  in  the  latter  part  of 
1862,  ten  years  after  Cartwright's  autobiography  had 
been  published.  In  that  book  he  had  made  no  men 
tion  of  his  candidacy  for  Congress  with  Lincoln  as 
his  opponent,  though  that  campaign  was  made  ten 
years  before  his  autobiography  appeared.  This 
omission  seemed  to  me  at  the  time  peculiar;  and  I  was 
all  the  more  at  a  loss  to  account  for  it  on  hearing  him 
speak  so  favourably  of  President  Lincoln.  So  I  ven 
tured  to  mention  this  omission  and  to  ask  him  whether 
there  had  not  been  some  very  interesting  matters 
connected  with  the  Congressional  campaign  of  1846 
between  himself  and  Lincoln  well  worth  the  telling 
in  his  autobiography. 

Cartwright  replied  that  I  should  remember  that  when 
he  published  his  autobiography  in  1856,  Lincoln  had 


APPENDIX  I  391 

not  attained  national  prominence;  but  stated  that  the 
principal  reason  for  this  omission  was  that  he  thought 
his  own  political  ventures  the  most  unsatisfactory 
part  of  his  life  to  him  and  to  many  of  his  friends,  and 
that  this  was  a  portion  of  his  past  that  he  referred  to 
in  the  closing  pages  of  his  book,  where  he  asked  for 
giveness  for  all  the  shortcomings  and  imperfections 
without  number  in  his  eventful  life.  He  added: 
"  That  1846  campaign  cured  me  of  all  political  hanker 
ings  for  office,  and  I  hope  the  good  Lord  will  forever 
save  me  from  getting  any  more  political  bees  in  my 
bonnet." 

It  was  at  this  point  in  the  conversation  that  my 
mother  referred  to  the  campaign  story  of  1846  in  re 
gard  to  Lincoln's  being  an  avowed  infidel  when  at 
Salem.  She  put  the  direct  question  to  him  whether 
he  was  not  now  convinced  that  the  charge  was  false; 
and  that  the  story  circulated  at  that  tirre,  that  Lin 
coln  wrote  a  book  at  Salem  attacking  the  Bible — 
which  manuscript  was  burned  by  Samuel  Hill — was 
not  a  gross  fabrication  based  upon  the  burning  of 
another  paper  having  no  relation  to  the  Bible,  or  any 
religious  subject. 

Cartwright  replied  that  he  had  learned  as  much  as 
that  from  an  intimate  conversation  he  had  with  Men- 
ter  Graham  some  years  after  that  campaign.  From 
him  he  learned  the  facts  concerning  that  unfortunate 
story.  He  found  that  he  had  been  wonderfully  mis 
informed  and  misled  by  the  account  he  had  received, 
believed,  and  circulated  about  the  infidel  book  said  to 
have  been  burnt  by  Hill.  He  said  that  he  was  so 
chagrined  and  abashed  by  the  discovery  of  the  poli 
tical  purpose  in  that  story,  that  it  was  one  of  the 
inducements  that  caused  him  to  ignore  in  his  book 


392  APPENDIX  I 

everything  connected  with  his  candidacy  against 
Lincoln  in  1846. 

"I  did  not  wish,"  he  said,  "to  embalm  in  my  his 
tory  a  story  that  nobody  since  has  ever  referred  to. 
It  was  dead.  It  was  very  silly  in  me  not  to  have 
verified  the  whole  story  at  the  time  and  found  how 
false  it  was."  "A  short  time  after  Lincoln's  nomina 
tion  for  the  Presidency  by  the  Republican  Party  in 
i860,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "I  found  more  substantial 
reasons  than  any  I  ever  had  before,  to  assure  me  that 
Lincoln  was  not  what  my  party  friends  and  I,  relying 
upon  them,  had  charged  him  with  being  in  1846.  This 
came  from  my  meeting  Dr.  Smith,  the  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Springfield,  and  spend 
ing  an  evening  in  his  company  at  the  home  of  a  mutual 
friend  in  Springfield.  I  found  him  a  pleasant  Chris 
tian  gentleman  and  the  evening  in  his  society  was  a 
profitable  one.  He  was  a  college  man,  but  I  found 
he  had  roughed  it  on  the  frontier  as  well,  and  got 
the  college  starch  out  of  him.  Dr.  Smith  told  me 
that  Lincoln  and  his  family  were  regular  attendants 
at  his  church,  and  that  at  some  time  he  expected 
Lincoln  to  unite  with  his  church,  as  Mrs.  Lincoln 
had  done.  Dr.  Smith  said  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  had 
been  brought  up  an  Episcopalian,  and  previous  to 
their  marriage  had  attended  that  church;  but  that 
in  deference  to  Lincoln's  Baptist  views  against  so 
many  formalities  in  church  worship,  she  had  joined 
the  Presbyterian  Church  as  a  compromise,  expect 
ing  Lincoln  at  some  future  time  to  come  into  that 
church." 

Jacquess  also  assured  me  that  during  the  year  he 
was  stationed  in  Springfield,  he  had  spent  many  hours 
with  Lincoln  in  the  State  Library,  and  by  their  con- 


APPENDIX  I  393 

versations,  was  well  satisfied  that  Lincoln's  attitude 
toward  religion  was  not  that  of  an  infidel. 

Cartwright  said  that  his  being  a  member  of  the 
State  Legislature  had  put  such  political  ambitions 
into  his  head  that  it  was  not  hard  for  his  friends  to  get 
him  into  the  canvass  for  Congress  in  1846,*  that  here 
after,  if  the  Lord  and  the  good  people  would  forgive 
him  for  the  political  campaigning  of  his  life  in  the  past, 
he  felt  proof  against  being  tempted  into  any  political 
strife  again  in  his  few  remaining  days.  He  believed 
that  Lincoln  was  fitted  for  political  life  and  knew  how 
to  keep  his  eye  on  the  laurel  while  he  played  the  game ; 
but  for  himself,  he  had  tried  and  most  ingloriously 
failed  in  it,  and  knew  that  for  Peter  Cartwright 
hereafter,  it  would  be  better  to  stick  to  Methodism 
and  fighting  the  devil  and  his  imps,  and  when  no 
longer  able  for  that  work,  he  should  settle  down  on  his 
farm  at  Pleasant  Plains  until  God  should  call  him 
home. 

We  are  now  so  far  removed  from  that  period  that 
we  are  no  longer  unable  to  "see  the  woods  for  the 
trees."  The  distance  necessary  to  true  perspective 
has  been  measured  in  history,  and  we  can  now  see  that 

JIn  this  campaign  Lincoln  attended  a  preaching  service  of 
Peter  Cartwright,  after  having  spoken  in  the  same  town  in  the 
afternoon.  Cartwright,  observing  the  presence  of  Lincoln,  after 
delivering  an  intensely  evangelistic  sermon,  called  upon  all  desir 
ing  to  go  to  heaven  to  stand  up.  All  arose  but  Lincoln.  Then  he 
asked  all  to  arise  who  did  not  want  to  go  to  hell,  Lincoln  still  re 
mained  seated,  whereupon  Cartwright  exclaimed:  "  I  am  surprised 
to  see  Abe  Lincoln  sitting  back  there  unmoved  by  these  appeals. 
If  Mr.  Lincoln  does  not  wish  to  go  to  heaven  and  does  not  want 
to  escape  hell,  perhaps  he  will  tell  us  where  he  does  want  to  go." 
Lincoln  slowly  arose  and  replied,  "I  am  going  to  Congress." — Ida 
Tarbell,  in  Red  Cross  Magazine,  Feb.,  1919. 


394  APPENDIX  I 

while  Cartwright  and  Lincoln  were  adherents  of  differ 
ent  political  parties,  they  occupied  common  ground 
in  relation  to  human  freedom  and  the  preservation  of 
the  Union.  Their  political  differences  were  merely 
superficial.  Their  political  faith  was  essentially  the 
same,  and,  while  upon  different  political  paths,  they 
were  moving  toward  the  same  goal. 

The  initial  battles  of  freedom  were  being  fought  out 
in  Illinois,  Lincoln  beginning  as  a  Whig  and  ending 
as  a  Republican; Cart wright,  a  Jacksonian  Democrat, 
born  and  baptized  into  that  party  by  his  father,  who 
was  a  Revolutionary  hero,  ceased  his  partisan  sub 
serviency  when  Sumter  was  fired  upon  and  knew  no 
party  save  that  of  his  undivided  country  and  Abraham 
Lincoln,  its  President. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  Forerunner  defeated 
Lincoln  for  the  Legislature.  This  was  Lincoln's  only 
defeat  by  popular  vote.  Lincoln's  time  had  not  yet 
arrived.  The  soil  was  not  yet  prepared.  The  influ 
ence  of  Cartwright  was  necessary  in  the  Democratic 
party  and,  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  that  in 
fluence  was  preparatory  to  the  coming  of  Lincoln. 
Single-handed  and  alone,  Cartwright  stood  in  that 
Legislative  body  striking  with  all  his  might  against 
the  institution  of  slavery.  A  little  later  Lincoln 
appeared  as  a  member  of  that  body  and  took  up 
the  fight  where  Cartwright  laid  it  down,  finally  join 
ing  with  Dan  Stone  in  a  protest  against  slavery 
which  sounded  the  prelude  of  its  death-knell.  Cart 
wright  had  been  the  prc-phet  of  this  dawn.  He  had 
"left  Kentucky  on  account  of  slavery."  Upon 
reaching  Illinois,  he  found  "there  had  been  a  strong 
move  by  a  corrupt  Legislature  to  call  a  convention 
with  a  view  to  alter  tire  constitution  so  as  to  admit 


APPENDIX  I  395 

slavery  into  the  State;  and  he  had  entered  the  list  to 
oppose  slavery  and  without  any  forethought  he  went 
into  the  agitated  waters  of  political  strife,"  and  being 
"strongly  solicited"  to  become  a  candidate  for  a  seat 
in  the  Legislature,  he  ran  against  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  was  elected  Representative  from  Sangamon 
County. 

"My  sentiments  placed  me  in  a  minority  in  my 
county,"  he  declares,  and  yet  he  stood  practically 
alone  against  the  majority,  lifting  his  voice  like  the 
thunder  of  Sinai  against  the  institution  of  slavery 
which  cursed  the  soil  and  soul  of  the  nation. 

Cartwright  retired  from  politics.  He  felt  that  his 
clerical  garments  were  bedrabbled  with  the  con 
tamination.  Lincoln  was  better  qualified  from  the 
standpoint  of  political  sagacity  and  strategy  to  fight 
the  battle  than  the  preacher;  and  so  Cartwright  is 
supplanted  by  Lincoln,  Lincoln  to  carry  forward  the 
work  which  Cartwright  had  begun,  their  paths  diverg 
ing  to  meet  in  1846  when,  after  a  heated  contest,  Lin 
coln  defeated  Cartwright  and  went  to  Congress. 

The  Forerunner  had  done  his  work.  Lincoln  was 
now  fairly  launched  in  the  arena  of  national  politics. 
Cartwright  had  now  to  say:  "I  must  decrease,  and 
you  must  increase."  He  had  pioneered  the  way  for 
Lincoln  to  the  State  Legislature  and  had  been  his 
opponent  in  a  Congressional  campaign  which  opened 
for  Lincoln  the  path  to  the  White  House.  Cartwright 
goes  back  to  the  pulpit,  Lincoln  continues  to  ascend 
the  heights  of  political  preferment,  and  thus  Lincoln 
was  prepared  for  the  crisis  when  it  broke,  and  the 
country  was  prepared  for  Lincoln  when  he  arrived. 

It  is  worth  while  to  note  here  how  Lincoln,  stand 
ing  alone  in  the  White  House,  ridiculed,  maligned,  and 


396  APPENDIX  I 

obstructed,  was  championed  by  his  Forerunner, 
Peter  Cartwright,  who  journeyed  to  New  York  dur 
ing  the  war,  as  Lincoln  had  journeyed  there  before 
the  war  and,  at  the  opportune  moment,  pointed  to 
Lincoln  as  the  man  of  the  hour. 

That  Harper  dinner  was  a  scene  sacred  and  historic. 
There,  in  the  midst  of  the  brains  and  wealth  of  the 
great  Metropolis,  the  Forerunner  appeared,  grim, 
gaunt,  and  grotesque,  carrying  with  him  the  manners 
of  the  frontier,  his  dislike  for  conventionality  pro 
nounced,  his  abhorrence  of  sham  and  hypocrisy,  ap 
parent,  his  devotion  to  flag  and  country  paramount, 
his  attitude  toward  Lincoln  loving  and  loyal. 

At  last,  with  eyes  undimmed  by  partisan  prejudice, 
emancipated  from  the  thraldom  of  tradition,  stepping 
out  into  the  clear  light  of  duty  and  patriotism,  join 
ing  hands  with  the  "Rail-splitter  of  the  Sangamon," 
even  as  Douglas  had  held  his  hat  at  his  Inauguration, 
he  hails  him  as  the  conservator  of  democracy,  signals 
him  as  God's  man  for  the  crisis,  and  crowns  him  as 
the  Heaven-inspired  saviour  of  the  Union  I 


APPENDIX  II 

THE   FIRST   MARTYR 

THE  hand  of  Providence  is  apparent  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  Abolition  Movement.  Lincoln,  who  saw 
things  in  what  Bacon  called  the  "dry  light"  did  not 
fail  to  recognize  the  vital  significance  of  the  work,  the 
mission  and  the  sacrifice  of  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  the  first 
martyr  to  the  cause. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  a  few 
young  men  received  the  "call,"  each  in  a  separate 
walk  of  life.  Peter  Cartwright  was  called  while  yet  a 
youth;  Lovejoy,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  and  Wendell 
Phillips  responded  in  early  manhood.  Cartwright's 
influence  radiated  from  the  pulpit,  Lovejoy's  from  his 
own  printing  press,  that  of  Garrison  and  Phillips 
from  the  rostrum  and  the  public  market  place.  No 
position  of  vantage  was  left  unoccupied.  The  divine 
call  was  heard  in  various  sections  of  the  country  by  ears 
attuned  to  the  whisperings  of  conscience,  of  religion 
and  the  higher  command.  The  "still  small  voice" 
spoke  to  these  men  in  accents  that  left  no  room  for 
misgivings  or  evasions.  In  every  case  the  call  was 
imperative,  the  command  absolute.  These  men,  like 
Lincoln,  indulged  in  no  compromises,  cherished  no 
illusions,  offered  no  half  measures.  Their  Christian 
ity  was  unyielding.  With  them  agnosticism  was  un 
known.  They  could  not  conceive  a  state  of  mind  in 

397 


398  APPENDIX  II 

which  doubt  held  the  spirit  in  a  condition  of  mental 
bondage.  They  looked  upon  slavery  as  a  positive 
evil  and  they  determined  upon  its  destruction  by 
positive  speech  and  drastic  action.  They  put  prin 
ciple  above  politics,  and  trust  in  the  moral  law  above 
fear,  right  above  might,  justice  above  wrong.  Be 
cause  of  this  attitude  the  example  of  Lovejoy  and  his 
supporters  ought  to  be  kept  conspicuously  before  the 
American  public  at  this  critical  juncture.  As  the 
Love  joys  and  the  Garrisons  fought  the  tyranny  of 
slavery  we  have  to  fight  the  tyranny  of  autocracy  in 
every  form. 

The  Reverend  Malvin  Jameson  who  was  long  a 
resident  of  Alton  says  in  his  book,  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy  as 
a  Christian :  "On  November  6, 1837,  the  city  was  quiet. 
Mr.  Gilman,  the  owner  of  the  warehouse  where  the 
Lovejoy  press  was  stored,  intending  to  stand  guard 
there  all  night  asked  some  of  his  friends  to  remain  with 
him;  nineteen  responded.  About  ten  o'clock  they 
became  aware  that  a  crowd  had  gathered.  Soon  the 
demand  was  made  for  the  surrender  of  Love  joy's  press 
and  shots  were  fired  on  both  sides.  A  man  was  killed. 
Threats  were  made  to  set  the  warehouse  on  fire.  A 
ladder  was  placed  against  the  building  and  a  man  be 
gan  to  ascend  it  to  carry  out  the  threat.  Volunteers 
were  called  for  from  the  defenders  inside  the  ware 
house  to  go  out  and  fire  upon  this  man.  Mr.  Lovejoy 
was  one  of  the  three  who  responded.  Two  of  the 
three  were  hit  by  shots  from  the  mob.  Mr.  Lovejoy 
was  shot  fatally,  five  balls  being  lodged  in  his  body  and 
he  had  only  strength  enough  to  run  upstairs  into  the 
counting  room  where  he  immediately  expired.  This 
was  November  7th.  The  next  day  he  would  have 
been  thirty-five  years  old."  Soon  after  this  tragedy 


APPENDIX  II  399 

John  Quincy  Adams  described  it  "  as  a  shock  as  of  an 
earthquake  throughout  the  continent  which  will  be 
felt  in  the  most  distant  regions  of  the  earth." 

On  December  8,  1837,  William  Ellery  Channing 
called  an  indignation  meeting  at  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston, 
when  resolutions  were  presented  which  were  opposed 
by  the  Attorney-General  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts  in  a  violent  speech,  in  which  he  de 
clared  that  Love  joy  "died  as  the  fool  dieth." 

Sitting  in  the  audience  there  was  a  young  man  whose 
name  was  as  yet  unknown,  whose  talents  were  as  yet 
untried.  His  name  was  Wendell  Phillips.  Over  his 
thin,  pale  face  and  long,  Roman  nose  his  forehead 
loomed  like  a  bastion  above  a  watchtower.  His  eyes 
had  the  look  of  the  prophet,  his  mouth  the  firmness 
which  nothing  can  move  nor  change.  As  this  unknown 
young  man  rose  to  give  his  judgment,  a  profound  silence 
fell  on  the  vast  assembly.  For  now  he  was  about  to 
deliver,  offhand,  a  speech  which  would  rank  with 
Patrick  Henry's  "Give  me  liberty,  or  give  me  death," 
and  Lincoln's  supreme  tribute  to  the  fallen  heroes  at 
Gettysburg.  Young  Phillips  had  not  been  speaking 
long  before  the  people  who  crowded  Faneuil  Hall  saw 
in  him  all  the  elements  of  the  natural  orator,  recog 
nized  the  penetrating  logician,  and  the  master  of 
polished  and  disconcerting  invective.  A  star  of  the 
first  magnitude  had  appeared  above  the  horizon  of 
slavery  whose  course  pointed  to  democratic  freedom 
and  the  advent  of  Lincoln. 

His  was  the  oratory  of  a  great  and  solemn  day. 
On  this,  his  first  public  appearance,  justice  triumphed, 
and  Channing's  resolutions  were  carried,  and  obloquy 
began  to  pursue  slavery  to  its  death. 

Two  years  after  Appomattox  Mr.  Phillips  lectured 


400  APPENDIX  II 

in  Alton.  The  following  day  his  visit  to  Lovejoy's 
grave  inspired  a  letter  to  the  Anti-Slavery  Standard 
in  which  he  stated:  "Hitherto  the  name  of  this  city 
brought  but  one  idea  to  my  mind  and  I  could  not  hear  it 
or  see  it  in  print  without  a  shudder,  but  I  have  had  a 
cordial  welcome  here  and  I  can  now  think  of  Alton  as 
the  home  of  brave  and  true  men.  The  gun  fired  at 
Lovejoy  was  like  that  of  Sumter — it  shattered  a  world 
of  dreams!  Looking  back,  how  wise  as  well  as  noble 
his  courage  seems!  Incredible  that  we  should  ever 
have  been  obliged  to  defend  his  imprudence !  What 
world-wide  benefactors  these  imprudent  men  are — 
the  Lovejoys,  the  John  Browns,  the  Lloyd  Garrisons, 
the  saints  and  martyrs!  How  prudently  most  men 
creep  into  nameless  graves,  while  now  and  then  one 
or  two  forget  themselves  into  immortality!" 

John  Quincy  Adams  in  a  memoir  to  Lovejoy  uses 
these  words:  "That  one  American  citizen,  in  a  State 
whose  constitution  repudiates  all  slavery,  should  die 
a  martyr  in  defence  of  the  freedom  of  the  press  is  a 
phenomenon  in  the  history  of  the  Union.  It  forms 
an  era  in  the  progress  of  mankind  toward  universal 
emancipation.  The  incidents  which  preceded  and 
accompanied  and  followed  the  catastrophe  of  Mr. 
Lovejoy's  death,  point  it  out  as  an  epoch  in  the  annals 
of  human  liberty.  He  was  the  first  American  martyr 
to  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  the  freedom  of  the 
slave." 

This  tragic  circumstance  must  have  been  burned 
indelibly  into  Lincoln's  mind.  It  made  Owen  Love- 
joy,  brother  of  the  murdered  man,  his  lifelong  friend 
and  counsellor.  Lincoln  did  not  always  agree  with 
him  in  matters  of  policy,  but  ever  after  his  brother's 
death  the  man  was  an  uncompromising  Abolitionist, 


APPENDIX  II  401 

and  Lincoln  never  forgot  that  Elijah  Lovejoy,  as 
John  Quincy  Adams  said,  was  the  first  American 
martyr  to  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  of  the  slave. 

The  transcendent  importance  attached  by  Lincoln 
to  the  death  of  Lovejoy  might  have  escaped  atten 
tion  but  for  the  publication  by  W.  C.  MacNaul  in 
1865  of  the  volume  The  Jefferson-Lemen  Compact. 
Lincoln's  views  on  this  subject  have  received  wider 
circulation  recently  also  through  the  publication  of 
Gilbert  A.  Tracey's  Uncollected  Letters  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  in  which  appears  a  letter  written  by  Lincoln 
dated  Springfield,  Illinois,  March  2,  1857,  to  the 
Reverend  James  Lemen,  regarded  by  many  as  the 
most  remarkable  letter  he  ever  wrote. 

"REV.  JAMES  LEMEN, 
"Friend  Lemen: 

"Thanking  you  for  your  warm  appreciation  of  my 
view  in  a  former  letter  as  to  the  importance  in  many 
features  of  your  collection  of  old  family  notes  and 
papers,  I  will  add  a  few  words  more  as  to  Elijah  P. 
Lovejoy's  case.  His  letters  among  your  old  family 
notes  were  of  more  interest  to  me  than  even  those  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  written  to  your  father.  Of  course, 
they  (the  latter)  were  exceedingly  important  as  a  part 
of  the  history  of  the  Jefferson-Lemen  anti-slavery 
pact,  under  which  your  father,  the  Rev.  James  Lemen, 
Sr.,  as  Jefferson's  anti-slavery  agent  in  Illinois  founded 
his  anti-slavery  churches,  among  which  was  the  pres 
ent  Bethel  Church,  which  set  in  motion  the  forces 
which  finally  made  Illinois  a  free  State,  all  of  which  was 
splendid;  but  Lovejoy's  tragic  death  for  freedom,  in 
every  sense  marked  his  sad  ending  as  the  most  impor 
tant  single  event  that  has  happened  in  the  New  World. 
26 


402  APPENDIX  II 

"  Both  your  father  and  Lovejoy  were  pioneer  leaders 
in  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  it  has  always  been  diffi 
cult  for  me  to  see  why  your  father  who  was  a  resolute, 
uncompromising,  and  aggressive  leader  who  boldly 
proclaimed  his  purpose  to  make  both  the  territory 
and  the  State  free,  never  aroused  nor  encountered  any 
of  the  mob  violence  which  both  in  St.  Louis  and  Alton 
confronted  or  pursued  Lovejoy  and  finally  doomed 
him  to  a  felon's  death  and  a  martyr's  crown.  Per 
haps  the  two  cases  are  a  little  parallel  with  those  of 
John  and  Peter.  John  was  bold  and  fearless  at  the 
scene  of  the  crucifixion,  standing  near  the  cross  and 
receiving  the  Saviour's  request  to  care  for  his  mother, 
but  was  not  annoyed,  while  Peter,  whose  disposition 
was  to  shrink  from  public  view,  seemed  to  catch  the 
attention  of  members  of  the  mob  on  every  hand  until 
finally,  to  throw  public  attention  off,  he  denied  his 
Master  with  an  oath  though  later  the  grand  old 
apostle  redeemed  himself  grandly,  and  like  Lovejoy, 
died  a  martyr  to  his  faith.  Of  course,  there  was  no 
similarity  between  Peter's  treachery  at  the  temple  and 
Lovejoy's  splendid  courage  when  the  pitiless  mob  was 
closing  around  him.  But  in  the  cases  of  the  two 
apostles  at  the  scene  mentioned,  John  was  more  promi 
nent  or  loyal  in  his  presence  and  attention  to  the  great 
Master  than  Peter  was,  but  the  latter  seemed  to  catch 
the  attention  of  the  mob;  and,  as  Lovejoy,  one  of 
the  most  inoffensive  of  men,  for  merely  printing  a 
small  paper  devoted  to  the  freedom  of  the  body  and 
mind  of  man,  was  pursued  to  his  death,  his  older 
comrade  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  the  Rev.  James 
Lemen,  Sr.,  who  boldly  and  aggressively  proclaimed 
his  purpose  to  make  both  the  territory  and  State  free, 
was  never  molested  a  moment  by  the  minions  of 


APPENDIX  II  403 

violence.  The  madness  and  pitiless  determination 
with  which  the  mob  steadily  pursued  Love  joy  to  his 
doom  mark  it  as  one  of  the  most  unreasoning  and  un 
reasonable  in  all  time,  except  that  which  doomed  the 
Saviour  to  the  cross. 

"  If  ever  you  should  come  to  Springfield  again,  do 
not  fail  to  call.  The  memory  of  our  many  '  evening 
sittings'  here  and  elsewhere,  as  we  called  them,  re 
calls  many  an  hour,  both  pleasant  and  helpful. 

"Truly  yours, 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN." 

Lincoln  declared  the  assassination  of  Love  joy  to  be 
"the  most  important  event  that  had  happened  in  the 
new  world."  This  statement  was  made  at  an  epoch 
when  things  truly  astounding  were  happening  in  the 
world  of  politics,  science,  and  commerce.  Invention 
was  revolutionizing  industry.  Railroads  were  trans 
forming  commerce,  Darwin  was  re-casting  science 
and  humanitarians  were  belting  the  world  with 
love.  Yet  none  of  these  "as  single  events"  weighed 
heavily  in  his  mind  compared  with  the  memory  of  the 
pale-faced  Congregational  preacher  dying  for  an  ileal, 
the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  the  freedom  of  the  slave, 
at  the  hands  of  the  pro-slavery  mob  in  the  little  city 
of  Alton  in  November,  1837.  He  weighed  carefully 
every  word  both  in  speech  and  in  writing. 

This  letter  of  Lincoln  should  be  framed  and  dis 
played  in  every  public  library  and  home  as  a  fitting 
testimonial  to  the  moral  fibre  and  spiritual  faith 
of  Elijah  Lovejoy,  the  prophet  of  Abolition,  and 
as  a  vivid  expression  of  the  vital  relation  of  free 
institutions  to  human  liberty.  It  also  illuminates  the 
Christian  faith  and  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln; 


404  APPENDIX  II 

it  reveals  his  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures  and  his 
admiration  for  Peter  and  John.  He  declares  that 
Peter  redeemed  himself  " grandly"  after  he  denied 
his  Master  with  an  oath  and  styles  him  as  ' '  the  grand 
old  Apostle."  He  appreciates  the  influence  of  the 
church,  declaring  that  Bethel  Church  had  "set  in  mo 
tion  the  forces  which  finally  made  Illinois  a  free  State. " 
His  reference  to  Jesus  as  "the  Saviour";  his  exalta 
tion  of  the  martyrdom  of  Lovejoy  "as  one  of  the  most 
unreasoning  and  unreasonable  in  all  time,  except  that 
which  doomed  the  Saviour  to  the  cross,"  glorifies  the 
cross  as  the  centre  of  all  world  events.  Abraham  Lin 
coln  was  the  type  of  Christian  who  not  only  followed 
in  the  footsteps  of  the  Master,  quoting  His  words, 
citing  His  works,  emulating  His  deeds  and  breath 
ing  His  spirit,  but  he  also  climbed  Golgotha's  brow 
and  under  the  very  shadow  of  the  cross,  depicted  with 
consummate  skill  the  supreme  tragic  fact  of  history. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

HUNDREDS  of  books  and  thousands  of  pamphlets  and 
addresses  are  in  print  concerning  Lincoln.  From  every 
point  of  view  he  has  been  treated  as  a  publicist.  This 
book  has  pictured  him  as  a  man  of  heart  as  well  as 
head  who  grew  in  grace  as  well  as  wisdom  till  at  last 
he  stood  forth  a  true  man  of  God,  more  and  more  as 
years  went  by  endeavouring  to  pattern  his  life  after 
that  of  Jesus  Christ  in  Whose  uniqueness  he  came 
increasingly  to  believe,  trying  to  live  up  to  his  oath 
of  office  to  preserve  the  Union  Washington  had  estab 
lished,  and  to  do  good  to  his  fellow-man,  rich  and 
poor,  white  and  black,  whenever  and  wherever  the 
way  opened.  That  was  Lincoln. 

In  consequence  the  author,  though  reading  many 
books  on  Lincoln,  has  in  preparation  of  this  volume 
made  actual  use  of  comparatively  few.  He  has  largely 
based  the  book,  which  began  years  ago  with  a  lecture, 
on  the  results  of  travel,  observation,  interviews  with 
people  who  knew  Lincoln  and  also  with  credible  in 
formants  who  have  passed  on  to  him  much  first-hand 
information  about  Lincoln.  He,  therefore,  believes 
the  book  will  in  general  prove  self-authenticating  as 
indeed  the  personality  of  Lincoln  has  already  proved 
itself  in  history.  They  that  have  eyes  to  see  will  see. 
To  no  others  will  the  work  have  any  meaning. 

A  few  of  the  sources  of  information  may  be  listed 
as  follows : 

405 


406  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Abraham  Lincoln:  Complete  Works.  Edited  by 
John  G.  Nicolay  and  John  Hay.  In  two  volumes. 
New  York:  The  Century  Company,  1894. 

Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  J.  H.  Barrett.  Cin 
cinnati:  Moore,  Wilstach,  Keyes  &  Co.,  1860. 

The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  J.  G.  Hol 
land.  Springfield,  Massachusetts:  Gurdon  Bill, 
1865. 

Life  and  Public  Services  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  By 
Henry  J.  Raymond.  New  York:  Derby  &  Miller, 
1865. 

The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  Ward  H.  Lamon. 
Boston:  James  R.  Osgood  &  Company,  1872. 

Abraham  Lincoln:  The  True  Story  of  a  Great  Life. 
By  William  H.  Herndon  and  Jesse  W.  Weik,  New 
York:  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  1892. 

Personal  Traits  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  Helen 
Nicolay.  New  York:  The  Century  Company, 
1912. 

Abraham  Lincoln.  By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr.  In  two 
volumes.  Boston:  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Com 
pany,  1893. 

The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  Ida  M.  Tarbell. 
In  two  volumes.  New  York:  The  Doubleday 
and  McClure  Company,  1900. 

Abraham  Lincoln:  The  People's  Leader  in  the  Struggle 
for  National  Existence.  By  George  Haven  Put 
nam.  New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1909. 

Abraham  Lincoln.  By  Noah  Brooks.  New  York: 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1882. 

Abraham  Lincoln.  By  Lord  Charnworth.  Henry 
Holt  and  Company,  1907. 

Latest  Light  on  Lincoln.  By  Ervin  Chapman.  New 
York:  Fleming  H.  Re  veil  &  Company,  1917. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  407 

The  True  Abraham  Lincoln.     By  William  Eleroy 

Curtis.     Philadelphia:  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Com 

pany,  1903. 
Abraham    Lincoln.      By    Carl    Schurz.      Boston: 

Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  1909. 
The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.     By  Isaac  N.  Arnold. 

Chicago:  A.  C.  McClurg  &  Company,  1916. 
Abraham   Lincoln.     By    Charles    Carleton    Coffin. 

New  York:  Harper  &  Brothers,  1893. 
Personal   Recollections    of  Abraham   Lincoln.     By 

Henry  B.  Rankin.     New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's 

Sons,  1916. 
Six  Months  at  the  White  House.     By  Frank  B.  Car 

penter.     New  York:  Kurd  &  Houghton,  1866. 
Diary  of  Gideon  Welles.     Atlantic  Monthly,  1909. 
Abraham  Lincoln   the    Christian.      By  William  J. 

Johnson.       New    York:     Eaton     and     Mains, 


The   Wisdom  of  Abraham  Lincoln.     Selected  and 

edited  by  Temple  Scott.     New  York:  Brentanos, 

1918. 
Abraham  Lincoln.     By  Joseph  H.   Choate.     New 

York:  T.  Y.  Crowell  &  Company,  1901. 
Abraham  Lincoln.     By  Phillips  Brooks.     A  sermon 

preached  in  Philadelphia,  April  23,  1865. 
Recollections  of  President  Lincoln  and  His  Adminis 

tration.     By    L.    E.    Chittenden.     New    York: 

Harper  &  Brothers,  1891. 
The  Life  and  Times  of  Abraham  Lincoln.     By  L.  P. 

Brockett.     Philadelphia:   Bradley  &   Company, 

1865. 
The   Soul  of  Abraham   Lincoln.     By   William   E. 

Barton.     New  York:  George  H.  Doran  &  Com 

pany,  1920. 


408  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"  Washington  and  Lincoln."  By  Lyman  P.  Powell. 
New  York:  The  Review  of  Reviews,  February, 
1901. 

The  Valley  of  the  Shadow.  By  Francis  Grierson. 
John  Lane  Pub.  Co.,  1908. 

Abraham  Lincoln.  By  Bishop  C.  H.  Fowler.  Pa 
triotic  orations.  Eaton  &  Mains. 

Lincoln's  Scrap-Book.  Library  of  Congress,  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.  Men  and  Things  I  saw  in  Civil 
War  Days.  Gen.  James  F.  Rustling. 


INDEX 


Abolitionism,  90 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  quoted, 
399,  400,  401 

Advance,  editor  of,  quoted,  282, 
283 

^Esop's  Fables,  33 

Age  of  Reason,  Paine,  Lincoln's 
criticism  of,  63 

Akers,  Dr.  Peter,  51 

Allies  and  America  in  World 
War,  209 

Alton,  398,  400 

American  Baptist  Home  Mis 
sion  Society,  Lincoln's  mes 
sage  to,  288 

Antietam,  battle  of,  205,  215, 
348 

Appomattox,  206,  339, 

Army  of  the  Potomac,  210;  at 
Arlington  Heights,  210;  mo 
rale,  334;  in  battles  of  the 
Wilderness,  341 

Ashmun,  George,  Lincoln's  let 
ter  to, 143-144 

Atlanta,  206;  capture  of,  343 


B 


Baker,  Edward  D.,  62,  221,  222 

Baltimore  Convention,  1864, 
298 

Barker,  Lieutenant,  prevents 
fight,  380-382 

Barry,  Wm.,  41 

Bateman,  Newton,  conversa 
tion  with  Lincoln,  229-234 

Bates,  Mr.,  of  Chicago,  140 

Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic, 
326 


Bayard,  Chevalier,  220 

Beauregard,  210 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  sent  to 
England,  194;  criticized  ad 
ministration,  195;  Lincoln's 
visit  to,  327 

Belgium,  339 

Bell,  John,  candidate  for  presi 
dent,  144 

Berry,  Rev.  Richard,  10 

Bethel  Church,  404 

Bible,  Lincoln's  mother  read  it 
to  him,  31;  a  favorite  of 
Lincoln's,  33;  his  belief  in, 
98-100,  248,  318,  319;  he 
read  it  every  day  ,256-257 ;  he 
quoted  it  to  school  children, 
319;  he  read  it  to  coloured 
help,  325 

Black,  Jeremiah  S.,  Attorney- 
General,  157 

Black  Hawk  War,  Lincoln  in, 

39-40 

Blaine,  James  G.f  candidate 
for  president,  214 

Blair,  Montgomery,  Postmas 
ter-General,  1oses  confidence 
of  the  public,  297-299;  letter 
from  Lincoln  to,  300 

Blanc,  Louis,  362 

Bloomington  speech,  124-125 

Bolshevism,  364 

Breckinridge,  candidate  for 
president,  144 

Breckinridge  Democrats,  prin 
ciples  of  platform,  1860,  143 

Brisbane,  Arthur,  362-363 

British  labour,  362 

Brooks,  Noah,  describes  a 
waking  vision  of  Lincoln's, 
150-151 


409 


4io 


INDEX 


Brooks,  Phillips,  quoted,  xviii 

Brown,  John,  220 

Browne,  Dr.  Robert,  Lincoln's 

conversation  with,  on  divine 

influence,  101 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  135, 

246,  quoted,  306 
Buchanan  Cabinet,  156-158 
Bull  Run,  battle  of,  204,  209, 

210,  212 

Bunyan,  read  by  Lincoln,  248 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.f  179 


Cabet,  362 

Cabinet,  Lincoln's,  176-177 

Calhoun,  John,  gives  Lincoln 

an  appointment,  65 
Cameron,  Simon,  Secretary  of 

War,  177,215 
Camp  meeting,  popularity  of, 

ix,  4;  description  of,  5-7,  10 
Campaign  lies,  64 
Capital,  Lincoln  on  relations 

between  labour  and,    364- 

367 

Capitol  Hill,  77 

Carlyle,  362 

Carpenter,  Frank  B.,  Six 
Months  at  the  White  House, 
cited,  147 

Carter  of  Ohio,  141 

Cartwright,  Rev.  Peter,  Hard 
ing  on,  ix;  nominated  for 
Congress,  8,  9,  62,  69;  fore 
runner  of  Lincoln,  9,  375- 
396;  experience  on  Missis 
sippi  River,  378 

Cass,    Lewis,    107;    resigned, 

157 
Cavaliers,  inspiration   to   the 

frontiersmen  4 
Channing,  William  Ellery,  and 

slavery,  399 
Chapman,    Latest    Light     on 

Abraham  Lincoln,  cited,  327 
Cham  wood,  Lord,  xviii 
Chase,  Salmon  P.,  Secretary  of 

the  Treasury,  wanting  to  be 


president,  217,  295;  difficult 
to  handle,  295 

Chicago  and  Alton  R.  R.,  con 
ductor's  story  of  Lincoln, 
304-305 

Chicago  clergymen  seek  to  ad 
vise  Lincoln,  346 

Children,  Lincoln's  fondness 
for,  304,  320 

Chiniquy,  Father,  character 
izes  Lincoln,  290 

Chittenden,  F.  E.,  last  survivor 
of  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  quoted, 
98,  297;  quotes  Lincoln,  98- 
100 

Choate,  picturing  Lincoln,  134 

Civil    War,    sacrifice   of    the, 

339 

Clay,  Henry,  candidate  for 
president,  1844,  68-69 

Clough,  Arthur  Hugh,  123 

Cobb,  Howell,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  157 

Cold  Harbor,  206 

Columbus,  Ohio,  speech,  172 

Congressional  Library,  inscrip 
tion,  31 

Cooper  Institute  speech,  22, 

133-139 

Copperheads,  213 

Corning,  Erastus,  President 
N.  Y.  Central  R.  R.,  makes 
Lincoln  an  offer,  138 

Crawford,  of  Georgia,  187 

Crawford,  Andrew,  school 
master,  24-25 

Cruden's  Concordance,  219 


Davis,  David,  304 

Davis,  Jefferson,  President  of 

the  Confederacy,  182,  219, 

220,  388 
Declaration  of  Independence, 

47,  344 
Dickey,    Judge,    conversation 

with  Lincoln  on  slavery,  85 
Dorsey,  Hazel,  school  teacher, 

24 


INDEX 


411 


Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  debates 
with  Lincoln  on  slavery, 
23-24,  112,  113,  127,  1 80, 
181 ;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate, 
40,  345;  defeated  as  candi 
date  for  president,  114,  115; 
loyal  to  the  Union,  179,  390 

Douglas  Democrats,  principles 
of  platform,  1860,  143 

Douglass,  Frederick,  consulted 
by  Lincoln,  305-306 

Dred  Scott  Decision,  113 

Drinkwater,  John,  298 

Drunkards,  Lincoln  on,  61 

DuboisJesseK.,  Lincoln  to,  1 16 

E 

Edwards,  J.  E.,  305 

Edwards,  Hon.  Ninian  W., 
Lincoln's  brother-in-law,  227 

Elkin,  Parson,  16,  328 

Emancipation  Proclamation, 
107,  205,  242,  344,  347-349 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  246; 
on  Lincoln's  Cooper  Insti 
tute  speech,  249-250 

Episcopal  Church,  62 

Ericsson,  John,  inventor  of 
Monitor,  218 

Euclid,  value  of,  29 

Evangelical  Lutheran  General 
Synod,  Lincoln's  reply  to 
committee  from,  288 

Evarts  of  New  York,  141 

Evidence  of  Lincoln's  Christian 
belief,  98-101,  126-127 


Farmer,  Aaron,  34 

Five  Points  Mission,  Lincoln's 

visit  to,  303 
Floyd,  John  B.,  Secretary  of 

War,  157 

Ford's  Theatre,  373 
Fort  Sumter,  1 78 
Fourierism,  363 
Fowler,    Bishop    Charles    H., 

quotes  Hillis,  235 


France,  292,  339 
Fredericksburg,  284,  333 
Free  Soil  Party,  convention,  76 
Fremont,  John  C.,    nominated 

for  president,  130;  a  difficult 

person,  214,  215 
Fremont,  Mrs,,  214 
Friends,  Society  of,  Lincoln's 

message  to,  288 


G 


Garibaldi,  76 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  397 

George,  Lloyd,  tribute  to  Lin 
coln,  v-vi,  34 

Germany,  first  democratic  re 
volution  occurred  in,  76 

Gettysburg,  34,  284,  285;  vic 
tory  at,  216,  338 

Gilman,  398 

Gilmore,  James  R.,  220 

Gladstone,  193 

God's  fight,  217,  221 

Golden  Rule,  100 

Grant,  U.  S.,  206,  340-342 

Greeley,  Horace,  takes  seat  in 
House,  76-77;  quoted,  334, 
340;  Lincoln's  words  to,  345 

Green,  Captain  Gilbert  J., 
reminiscences  of  Lincoln,  94- 

95 

Gregg,  Dr.,  quoted,  50-51 

Gulliver,  Dr.  John  Putnam, 
conversation  with  Lincoln, 
26-30 

Gurley,  Dr.,  delivered  Lin 
coln's  funeral  oration,  238- 
240 

Gurney,  Mrs.,  interview  with, 
258 

H 

Hampton  Roads,  Merrimac 
in,  217 

Hanks,  Nancy,  at  camp  meet 
ing,  10 ;  marriage  of,  io;gave 
her  son  Christian  training, 
15,  254 


412 


INDEX 


Harding,  Warren  G.,  ix-xii 
Harlan,  Justice,  206 
Harlan,  Senator,  offers    reso 
lution  in  Senate,  334 
Harper,   James,   gives   dinner 

party  for  Peter  Cartwright, 

385-386 
Harvard   Commemoration  Ode, 

of  Lowell,  tribute  to  Lincoln, 

161 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  246, 247 
Hay,    John,    43;    tribute    to 

Lincoln's   Christianity,   289 
Henry,  Patrick,  77,  399 
Herndon,  Judge  William  H., 

10,   223,   224;  gloomy,   72; 

parting  with  Lincoln,  316 
Hill,  Samuel,  391 
Hillis,    Dr.    Newell    Dwight, 

quoted,  235 

Holland,  Dr.  J.  G.,  233,  290 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  246, 

247 

Howe,  Julia  Ward,  326 
Hugo,  Victor,  quoted,  xiii 


I.  W.  W.,  364 

Ide,  Dr.,  letter  from  Lincoln 
to,  360-361 

Illinois,        democratic,        54; 

Methodist  converts  of,  383 
Illinois  audience,  390 
Illinois   Legislature,     Lincoln 

candidate   for,    40,    55-56; 

Lincoln  speaks  in,  366 
Inaugural  Address  of  Lincoln, 

2d, 354-356 
Indiana,  Statutes  of,  read  by 

Lincoln,  33 


Jackson,  Andrew,  54 
Jackson,  "Stonewall,"  how  he 

received  his  name,  211 
Jacquess,  Rev.  James  F.,  on 

peace  mission  to  Jefferson 

Davis,  220 


Jameson,  Rev.  Malvin,  Elijah 
P.  Lovejoy  as  a  Christian, 
quoted,  398 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  125 

Johnston,  John,  Lincoln's  step 
brother,  letter  from  Lincoln 
to,  278-279 

Johnston,  Matilda,  injured  by 
axe,  21-22 

Johnston,  Sally,  Lincoln 's  step 
mother,  won  love  of  Abe,  17, 
19;  sends  Abe  to  School,  18; 
quoted,  18,  19 

Judd,  Norman,  304 


K 


Kaiser  invoked  God  of  rapine, 
80 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  83 

Keene,  Laura,  373 

Kingsley,  Charles,  362 

"Know-Nothing"  Party,  Lin 
coln's  attitude  toward,  66-67 


Labour,  Lincoln's  Christian 
view  of,  358-370 

Law,  Lincoln's  reverence  for, 
47 

Layman,  Colonel  W.  H.,  223- 
225 

Lee,  General  Robert  E.,  206- 
216 

Lemen,  Rev.  James,  letter  from 
Lincoln  to,  401-403 

"Lightning  rod"  speech  of 
Lincoln,  55,  57 

Lincoln,  Aorai  am,  ancestors, 
pioneer  stock,  xx;  born  to 
poverty,  xx;  typical  Ameri 
can, xx;  parentage,  10,11-19; 
father,  10,  11,15, 19>  mother 
and  her  influence,  10,  12-17; 
appreciation  of  stepmother, 
12,  17-19;  taught  to  read 
Bible,  14,  219;  prayed  to 
God,  17;  craving  for  educa 
tion,  20;  at  Cooper  Institute, 


INDEX 


413 


Lincoln,  Abraham — Continued 
22;  genius  for  analysis,  23; 
mental  development,  24 ;  on 
ly  six  months'  schooling,  27; 
"I  vote  for  Euclid,"  29;  re 
ligious  training,  31,  32;  af 
fected  by  superstition,  32; 
mystic  temperament,  32; 
sense  of  loyalty  to  God,  33, 
282, 328-330 ;  favorite  books, 
33;  no  tyrant,  35;  kindness 
to  animals,  35,  317;  moral 
preparation,  37;  belief  in 
God  as  ruler  of  the  world  ,45; 
effect  of  Eternal  Power  upon , 
97;  belief  in  Bible,  98-100, 
248,  318,  319;  speech  to 
Young  Men's  Lyceum, 
Springfield,  111.,  45;  belief  in 
God,  45;  "On  Perpetuation 
of  our  Political  Institutions," 
45;  reverence  for  law,  46,  47 ; 
address  when  first  candidate 
for  Legislature,  55;  "light 
ning  rod"  speech,  55,  57; 
leadings  of  Providence,  68- 
75,  i  oo;  year  of  years,  76-82; 
divine  influence  upon  his 
life,  101;  kindness  of  heart, 
112-113;  implores  assistance 
of  Divine  Providence  upon 
Republican  Convention,  144; 
visions,  149-153;  firmness, 
199;  four  long  years,  201- 
207;  trust  in  God,  208,  209; 
listens  to  tales  of  woe,  212, 
273,  312,  3i3»  3M»  315; 
Christlike  uplift,  213;  Christ- 
like  spirit,  214;  doing  God's 
work,  217;  carried  New 
Testament  in  his  pocket, 
219,  230;  called  "Honest 
Abe,"  224;  stunned  by 
death  of  Baker,  222;  love  of 
sincerity,  224;  teacher  un 
taught  of  men,  245-252;  a 
law  unto  himself,  246;  a  com 
plete  Christian,  253-264 ; 
belief  in  doctrine  of  Atone 
ment,  261 ;  Christlike  story 


teller,  265-275;  polishes  his 
boots,  270-271 ;  on  his  knees, 
276-286;  prays  for  Vicks- 
burg,  284,  285,  322,  328; 
belief  that  God  answers 
prayer,  286;  Christian  Presi 
dent,  290;  Christian  atti 
tude,  291;  First  Inaugural 
Address,  293;  letter  to  Post 
master-General  Blair,  300; 
fondness  for  children,  304, 
320;  horror  of  a  lie,  315; 
dreams,  316,  372;  disciplined 
by  grief,  320-329;  sadness  of 
face,  324-325;  read  Bible  to 
coloured  help,  325;  interest 
ing  Christianity,  325;  faith 
in  the  Divine  Power,  338- 
339;  attributes  nation's  gain 
to  God's  goodness,  339; 
speech  to  Chicago  ministers, 
346;  makes  promise  to  the 
Lord,  348;  inspired  utter 
ances,  350-357;  submission 
to  the  Divine  Will,  356;  re 
ligious  faith  reflected  in 
Second  Inaugural  Address, 
356;  never  dodged  an  issue, 
361;  on  relation  between 
capital  and  labour,  365; 
planning  to  go  home,  373; 
wished  to  see  Jerusalem,  373 ; 
his  forerunner,  375-396;  first 
a  Whig,  later  a  Republican, 
.394 

Lincoln,  Eddie,  death  of,  226 
Lincoln,  Tad,  320 
Lincoln,  Thomas,  marriage,  10; 
character,  n,  19;  effect  of 
wife's  death  upon,  1 5 ;  second 
wife,  17 
Lincoln,  Willie,  death  of,  263, 

320-322 
Lincoln  Statue  in  Westminster 

Abbey,  34 
Linder,  U.  F.,  307 
Logan,  John,  defeated,  74 
Longfellow,  H.  W.,  246 
Lovejoy,  Elijah  P.,  401;  first 
martyr  to  cause  of  Abolition, 


INDEX 


Lovejoy,  Elijah  P. — Continued 
397-403;  Life  of,  by  Rev. 
Malvin  tameson,  398-399 

Lovejoy,  Owen,  78,  400;  reso 
lution  denouncing  slavery, 
337-338 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  246, 
247 ;  characterization  of  Lin 
coln,  159-161 

Lurton,  Jacob,  travelling 
Methodist  Preacher,  375 

M 

Macbeth,  quoted,  325 

McCabe,  Chaplain  C.  C.,  327 

McClellan,  General,  212,  215, 
216,  340;  contempt  for  Lin 
coln,  215,  300-302 

MacDowell,  General,  210 

McKinley,  President,  171 

MacNaul,  W.  C.,  401 

Magna  Charta,  194,  344 

Manasses,  211 

Marx,  Karl,  a  repudiated  Jew, 
362, 363 

Marxian  theory,  367 

Matheny,  Colonel  James  A., 
Misquoted,  226;  letter  to 
Rev.  J.  A.  Reed,  228 

Meade,  General,  216,  285; 
secret  of  his  inspiration,  286 

Merrimac,  capture  of,  217,  218 

Methodist  converts  of  Illinois, 

383 
Mexican  War,  opposition  to, 

71,72 

Mills,  Clark,  371 
Milton,  Wordsworth's  lines  on, 

applied  to  Lincoln,  303 
Milwaukee,  address  of  Lincoln 

at,  367 
Minnesota,  First  Regiment,  at 

Gettysburg,  285 
Minnesota,  218 
Missouri  Compromise,  83 
Monitor,  218,219 
Moody,  Dwight  L.,  326 
"Mudsill"  theory,  367-368 
Murdock,  James  F.,  282-283 


N 


Negro  consulted  by  Lincoln, 
306 

New  England  observance  of 
Thanksgiving  Day  national 
ised,  333 

New  Haven,  Lincoln  speaks  at, 
27,366 

New  Orleans,  slave  auction  at, 
49-50 

New  Salem,  Lincoln's  experi 
ence  at,  41-42 

Niagara  Falls,  Lincoln's  visit 
to,  95,  and  article  on,  95-97 

Nicolay,  Helen,  on  spurious 
quotations  of  Lincoln,  369 

Nicolay,  John,  369 

Northern  sentiment  at  time  of 
Bull  Run,  209 

Norton,  Charles,  372 


Odyssey,  271 

Ohio  paper  publishes  Lincoln 

essay,  34 
Orleans,    Bishop    of,    quoted, 

356-357 
Owen,  Robert  Dale,  271 


Paine,   Tom,   works  read   by 

Lincoln,  63 

"Patriots  and  traitors,"  390 
"Perpetuation  of  our  Political 
Institutions,"  speech  by  Lin 
coln,  45-49 
Phillips,  Wendell,  397 
Pierce,    President,    letter    to 

Jefferson  Davis,  179 
Pinkerton,  Allan  W.,  174 
Pitcher,  John,  on  early  Lincoln 

essay,  34 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  246,  247 
Pomeroy,  Miss  Rebecca,  282 
Port  Hudson,  battle  of,  281 
Prayer,  Day  of,  333,  34*,  343 


INDEX 


415 


Prayer,  Lincoln  on,  169-174, 
355;  his  faith  in,  332-333. 
340 

Preachers,  militant,  9 

Presbyterians,  Scotch,  4;  in 
Indiana,  12 

Proclamations  of  Lincoln,  330- 

349 

Prodigal  son,  parable,  266 

Profanity,  Lincoln  discourages, 
352 

Prohibition,  Lincoln's  attitude 
toward,  147-148 

Proudhon, 362 

Public  School  System,  origin 
of,  41 

Puritans,  influence  on  frontier 
communities,  4 

Putnam,  George  Haven,  Ma 
jor,  quoted,  134 


R 


Radicals,  spurious  quotations 

used  by,  369 
Rail-splitter  of  the  Sangamon, 

396 
Reed,    Rev.    J.    A.,    refutes 

charges  of  Colonel  Layman 

and  Judge   Herndon,   223- 

225;   letter  from   John    T. 

Stuart   to,    226-228;   letter 

from  James  A.  Matheny  to, 

228 
Republican  Party,  1860,  291; 

platform,  142 
Richmond,  taking  of  desired, 

209 
Robertson,  George,  letter  from 

Lincoln  to,  128-120, 
Roman  Catholics,  Lincoln  on 

rights  of,  66-67 
Roosevelt,   Theodore,  tribute 

to  Lincoln,  290 
Rosecrans,  206;   at   Corinth, 

205 

Rusling,  General,  283 
Russell,  Lord  John,  193 
Russia,  366 


S 


Sabbath  observance,  Lincoln's 
desire  to  secure,  351-352 

Senate,  United  States,  confess 
ing  Christ  before  the  world, 
335-337 

Seward,  William  H.,  Secretary 
of  State,  348;  on  policy  of 
Lincoln,  59,  291,  292-293; 
tribute  to  Lincoln,  60,  293 

Shakespeare's  plays,  favorite 
reading  of  Lincoln,  33 

Shenandoah  Valley,  206 

Sheridan,  General,  206 

Sherman,  General,  206,  372 

Sickles,  Daniel  E.,  General, 
284 

Slavery,  49;  emancipation,  346; 
a  moral  not  political  issue, 
345;  not  debatable,  345; 
contradiction  to  Christian 
ity,  361 ;  evil  position,  398 

Slaves,  auction  of,  49-50 

Smith,  Dr.,  tried  to  convert 
Lincoln,  226 

Smith,  Job,  not  to  be  shot, 
314 

South,  preparation  of,  209; 
exhaustion  of,  339 

Spain,  292 

Speed,  Mary,  256 

Springfield,  111.:  Young  Men's 
Lyceum,  Lincoln's  address 
to,  45;  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  227,  392 

Squatter  Sovereignty,  113 

Stanton,  E.  M.,  Secretary  of 
War,  36-37,  215,  216,  293, 
294 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  311 

Stone,  Dan,  Abolitionist,  91- 
92,  394 

Stuart,  John  T.t  Lincoln's  first 
law  partner,  letter  to  Rev. 
J.  A.  Reed,  226-228 

Sumner,  Charles,  219 

Sutherland,  Reverend  Byron, 
quotes  Lincoln,  242 

Syndicalism,  364 


4i6 


INDEX 


Tarbell,  Ida,  n;  quoted,  on 
Willie  and  Tad,  320-322 

Taylor,  Zachary,  elected  presi 
dent,  70;  opposed  war  with 
Mexico,  72 ;  nominated,  76 

Temperance,  Lincoln  advo 
cates,  60-6 1 

Ten  Commandments,  100 

Thanksgiving  Day,  national 
ized  by  Lincoln,  333 

Thanksgiving  proclamations, 
1863,330;  1864,343,344 

Thayer,  Eli,  155 

Thomas,  206 

Thoreau,  246 

Tolstoy  pictured  Lincoln,  290 

Toombs,  158 

Toucy,  Isaac,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  157-158 

Tracey,  Gilbert  A.,  Uncollected 
Letters  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
401 

Trumbull,  Henry  Clay,  326 

Trumbull,  Lyman,  304 


Vallandigham,  219 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  nominated 
for  president,  76 

Vicksburg,  206,  287,  338;  Lin 
coln  prays  for,  262,  285 

Victoria,  Queen,  195-196 

Vinton,  Dr.  Francis,  "Your 
son  is  alive,"  322-324 

Visions,  prophetic,  of  Lincoln, 

149-153 
Voltaire,  read  by  Lincoln,  63, 

255.  256 
Volney's  Ruins,  255 


Votes  for  women,  106 
W 

Wade,  Ben,  78 

Washburne,  Hon.  E.  B.,  letters 

from  Lincoln  to,  154-155 
Washington,    George,     Lloyd 

George    on,     vi;     Weems's 

Life  of,  33,  63 
Washington,  D.  C.,  210 
Watson,  Rev.  E.  L.,  220 
Webster,  Daniel,  77,  78,  390 
Weems's  Life  of  Washington, 

33,  63 
Westminster   Abbey,    Lincoln 

statue  unveiled,  34 
Whigs  opposed  Mexican  War, 

7i 

Whitman,    Walt,    tribute    to 

Lincoln,  357 
Whittier,  J.  G.,  246 
Wigwam  Convention,  146 
Wilson,  ex-Senator  James  F., 

quoted,  102-103 
Wisconsin,  and  labour,  368 
Wisconsin   State  Agricultural 

Society,  Lincoln's  speech  to, 

307-308 
Wood,  Leonard,  characterizes 

Lincoln,  vii-viii 
Wordsworth's  lines  on  Milton, 

applied  to  Lincoln,  303 
Workingmen's  Association  in 

New  York,  Lincoln's  Speech 


to,  363-364 
World  War,  201,209, 


339 


Yale  College,  Professor  of 
Rhetoric,  lectures  on  Lin 
coln's  speeches,  27 

Yankee  pedlar,  story  of,  107 


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